8. Wood Plastic Composite Foam Applications

Wood fiber/plastic composites (WPCs) utilize fibers as reinforcing filler in the polymer matrix and are known to be advantageous over the neat polymers in terms of the materials cost and mechanical properties such as stiffness and strength. Wood fiber reinforced polymer composites are microcellular processed to create a new class of materials with unique properties. Most manufacturers are evaluating new alternatives of foamed composites that are lighter and more like wood. Foamed wood composites accept screws and nails like wood, more so than their non-foamed counterparts. They have other advantages such as better surface definition and sharper contours and corners than non-foamed profiles, which are created by the internal pressure of foaming. The microcellular wood fiber reinforced polymer composites can be obtained by different processes (batch, injection molding, extrusion, and compression molding process) by using physical or chemical foaming agent.