Wood-plastic composite

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A picture of NewTech brand WPC.

Wood-plastic composite (commonly abbreviated as WPC) is a composite material lumber or

timber made of recycled plastic and wood wastes.

There are also application in the market, which utilize only virgin raw materials. Its most
widespread use is in outdoor deck floors, but it is also used for railings, fences, landscaping
timbers, cladding and siding, park benches, molding and trim, window and door frames, and
indoor furniture. Manufacturers claim that wood-plastic composite is more environmentally
friendly and requires less maintenance than the alternatives of solid wood treated with
preservatives or solid wood of rot-resistant species. Resistant to cracking and splitting, these
materials can be moulded with or without simulated wood grain details. Even with the wood
grain design these materials are still visually easy to distinguish from natural timber as the grains
are the same uniform color as the rest of the material. Well-known trade names include
Practiwood, NewTech, TimberTech, Trex, JER Envirotech, CorrectDeck, Artowood, Chylon,
Ultradeck and Weatherbest.

Wood-plastic composite is still a very new material relative to the long history of natural lumber
as a building material but can be substituted in most instances. Although being highly resistant to
rot, Wood Plastic Composites still soak up water due to their mixing with organic wood fibers.
Some manfacturers have tried to avoid this by loading up their wood fibers with oils or other
products that repel water. Still the major advantage of this category of building materials is its
ability to add another stage of upstream use to materials previously considered waste lumber.
Although these materials continue the lifespan of used and discarded materials, and have their
own considerable half life; the polymers and adhesives added make wood-plastic composite
difficult to recycle again after use due to the many impurities in such a compound. It can be
recycled easily in a new wood-plastic composite.

Wood-plastic composite lumber is composed of wood from recovered saw dust (and other
cellulose-based fiber fillers such as pulp fibers, peanut hulls, bamboo, straw, digestate, etc.) and
virgin or waste plastics including high-density polyethylene, PVC, PP, ABS, PS and PLA. The
powder or fibers are mixed to a dough-like consistency and then extruded or moulded to the
desired shape. Additives such as colorants, coupling agents, stabilizers, blowing agents,
reinforcing agents, foaming agents, lubricants help tailor the end product to the target area of
application. The material is formed into both solid and hollow profiles or into injection moulded
parts and products. With the diversity of organic components used in wood/plastic composite
processing, there is no single answer to reliably handling these potentially difficult materials. In
some applications standard thermoplastic injection moulding machines and tools can be utilized.

Wood, resin, regrind, and most of the additives are combined and processed in a pelletizing
extruder. The new material pellets are formed in mold and dried. Pre-distribution testing can help
determine the optimal combination of chemical agents, design, agitation and other flow aid
strategies for the specific material in use. Modern testing facilities are available to evaluate
materials and determine the optimal combination of equipment components to assure the highest
level of accuracy and reliability. Computerized performance test reports document equipment
performance.

Another picture of NewTech brand WPC.

A major advantage over wood is the ability of the material to be molded to meet almost any
desired spatial conditions. It can also be bent and fixed to form strong arching curves. With up to
70 percent cellulose content (although 50/50 is more common), wood-plastic composites behave
like wood and can be shaped using conventional woodworking tools. At the same time, they are
moisture-resistant and resistant to rot, although they are not as rigid as wood and may slightly
deform in extremely hot weather. The material is also sensitive to staining from a variety of
agents by virtue of its porosity. A major selling point of these materials is their lack of need for
paint as they are manufactured in a variety of colors, but are widely available in grays and earth
tones.

[edit] External links

Engineered wood
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by
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(January 2008)

This 1966 photo shows wood waste being burned for fuel in Portland, Oregon.

75 Unit Apartment building, made largely of wood, in Mission, British Columbia.

Engineered wood, also called composite wood, man-made wood includes a range of derivative
wood products which are manufactured by binding together the strands, particles, fibers, or
veneers of wood, together with adhesives, to form composite materials. These products are
engineered to precise design specifications which are tested to meet national or international
standards. Plywood is sometimes called the original engineered wood.[1]

Typically, engineered wood products are made from the same hardwoods and softwoods used to
manufacture lumber. Sawmill scraps and other wood waste can be used for engineered wood
composed of wood particles or fibers, but whole logs are usually used for veneers, such as
plywood. Alternatively, it is also possible to manufacture similar engineered cellulosic products
from other lignin-containing materials such as rye straw, wheat straw, rice straw, hemp stalks,
kenaf stalks, or sugar cane residue, in which case they contain no actual wood but rather
vegetable fibers.

[edit] Characteristics
Engineered wood products are used in a variety of ways, often in applications similar to solid
wood products. Engineered wood products may be preferred over solid wood in some
applications due to certain comparative advantages:
  Because engineered wood is man-made, it can be designed to meet application-specific
performance requirements.
 Large panels of engineered wood may be manufactured from fibers of small diameter
trees.
 Small pieces of wood, and wood that has defects, can be used in many engineered wood
products, especially particle and fiber-based boards.

Engineered wood products also have some disadvantages:

 They require more primary energy for their manufacture than solid lumber.
 The required adhesives may be toxic. A concern with some resins is the release of
formaldehyde in the finished product, often seen with urea-formaldehyde bonded
products.
 Cutting and otherwise working with engineered wood products can expose workers to
toxic constituents.
 Engineered wood products are weaker[2] and more prone to humidity-induced warping
than equivalent solid woods, and most particle and fiber-based boards readily soak up
water unless they are treated with sealant or paint which usually leads to accelerated
fungus growth[3]. This is contrary to manufacturers claims.

The types of adhesives used in engineered wood include:

Urea-formaldehyde resins (UF)

most common, most cheap, and not waterproof.
Phenol-formaldehyde resins (PF)
yellow/brown, and commonly used for exterior exposure products.
Melamine-formaldehyde resin (MF)
white, heat and water resistant, and often used in exposed surfaces in more costly
designs.
Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) or polyurethane (PU) resins
expensive, generally waterproof, and do not contain formaldehyde.

A more inclusive term is structural composites. For example, fiber cement siding is made of
cement and wood fiber, while cement board is a low density cement panel, often with added
resin, faced with fiberglass mesh.

[edit] Types