Processing/structure/property relationships for artificial wood made from stretched PP/wood‐fiber composites

This article presents the processing/structure/property relationships for artificial wood made from stretched PP/wood‐fiber (WF) composites that have required strength and density. The die drawing of PP/WF composites causes a unidirectional orientation of the polymer molecules and enhances the mechanical properties significantly along the stretched direction. The drawing of the composites also lowers the density of artificial wood by generating voids at the WF and polymer matrix interface. The critical processing and materials parameters are identified. The effects of these parameters on the structure and the properties are also investigated. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009.