EFFECT OF REPROCESSING CYCLES ON MORPHOLOGY AND PROPERTIES OF ETHYLENE VINYL ACETATE (EVA) COPOLYMER/OLIVE HUSK FLOUR COMPOSITES

摘要

The use of wood-based materials, such as wood flour and wood fibers, as reinforcing fillers for thermoplastics attracted a number of researchers and manufacturers during the last decade [1]. Indeed, the addition of wood flour as renewable natural filler in polymer composites aims to produce a unique combination of high performance, great versatility, light weight, recyclability, biodegradability and processing advantages at favourable cost [2,3]. Extrusion, injection and compression mouldings are the classical techniques for the processing of wood plastics composites [4]. However, the use of high processing temperatures coupled with intensive shear rates often result in degradation, which affects to some extent the performance of the materials [5].