Properties of wood-plastic composites: effect of inorganic additives

Wood-plastic composites from Syrian tree species (white poplar, cypress tree, and white willow) were prepared using gamma-ray irradiation. Dry wood was impregnated with acrylamide or butylmethacrylate at various methanol compositions as the swelling solvent. Effect of inorganic additives and co-additives such as lithium nitrate (LiNO3), copper sulfate (CuSO4) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4), used at a very low concentration (1%), on the polymer loading (PL) and the compression strength (CS) was also investigated. It has been found that all the additives and co-additives, except Cu2+, increase the PL values and only Li+ has a positive effect on CS