STUDY ON ULTRAVIOLET RESISTANCE OF WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITE PRODUCED FROM ACACIA MANGIUM BARK AND NANO TiO2

Abstract

This study determined effect of nano TiO₂ ratio on some properties of wood plastic composite (WPC), especially ultraviolet (UV) resistance of the material. Research results showed that, the TiO₂ nanoparticles did not significantly affect bonding quality between wood flour and plastic, it means when adding nanoparticles into WPC, the strength of material was almost unchanged. However, the abrasion ability of the material was significantly affected. The results revealed that, when the nano TiO₂ ratio increased, the mass loss of WPC due to abrasion reduced; therefore the abrasion resistance of WPC increased as added nano ratio increased, when the used nanoparticles ratio was 0.5%, the mass loss due to abrasion of WPC was 0.42 g/100r, but when the used nanoparticles ratio increased to 1.5%, the mass loss due to abrasion of WPC reduced to 0.31 g/100r. Moreover, adding TiO₂ into the WPC production process from Acacia mangium bark could increase the color stability of the material under UV radiation. The results also presented that, with the samples did not contain nano TiO₂, DE value was about 9 to 10, but with the samples containing TiO₂, the DE values reduced from 3 to 5 (40-50% reduction).