Effect of industrial wood particle size on mechanical properties of wood-polyvinyl chloride composites

Wood-polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites were prepared using industrial wood particles used for manufacturing three-layer particleboards. The effect of particle size (0.25-0.5, 0.5-1, 1-2, and 2-4 mm) on the mechanical properties of the composites was investigated. The effect of cross-section size (4x10, 6x15 and 8x20 mm(2)) of composite pieces made by an injection moulding method was also studied. Both the particle size and specimen cross-section area significantly influenced these properties. The tensile and flexural properties as well as the impact strength in general increased with increasing particle size, and decreased with increasing cross-section size.