TITLE:
Development of a Composite Material Based on Wood Waste Stabilized with Recycled Expanded Polystyrene
AUTHORS:
Serge Pacome Kaho, Koffi Clément Kouadio, Conand Honoré Kouakou, Edjikémé Eméruwa
KEYWORDS:
Expanded Polystyrene, Wood Waste, Resin, Composite Material, Thermoforming
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Composite Materials,
Vol.10 No.3,
July
30,
2020
ABSTRACT: Environmental pollution is a whole world concern. One of the causes of that pollution is the proliferation of plastic waste. Among
these wastes there is expanded polystyrene
(EPS), mainly from packaging. This study
aims to valorize EPS waste by developing a composite material from EPS waste
and wood waste. For this purpose, a resin made of EPS has been elaborated by
dissolving EPS in acetone. That resin was used as a binder in volume
proportions of 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% to
stabilize the samples. Some of them were thermoformed. The method of
elaboration was based on a device consisting of an extruder for mixing the
constituents, and a manual press for shaping and compacting the samples.
Analyses show that the drying time depends on the composition of the mixture.
Increasing the resin content leads to reduce water absorption and porosity of
the samples; it also contributes to homogenize the internal structure of the
samples. However, for the same resin contents, the thermoformed samples are
less porous; they have more homogeneous
internal structure; and absorb less water
than non-thermoformed samples.