Processing and flexural properties of surface reinforced flat pressed WPC panels

While extrusion and injection molding are the common technologies to produce wood-plastic composites (WPC), pressing may be an alternative, particularly when flat products are striven for. In this study, flat pressed WPC panels were surface-reinforced by two different types of thermoplastic face layers to improve flexural properties. The two face materials applied were a commingled fabric made of glass and polypropylene filaments (TWINTEX®) and a glass fabric reinforced polypropylene laminate (S-TEX®). Combination of face layers and WPC panels was achieved in a single and a two stage flat pressing process. Besides studying the effects of reinforcing material and number of process stages, the influence on flexural properties of the reinforced panels was identified. Unreinforced WPC panels were tested for comparison. The reinforced WPC panels exhibited greatly improved flexural properties, with MOE (MOR) values up to nearly 10,000 N/mm\^ (90 N/mm\^)