Non-isothermal crystallization and thermal degradation properties of three phase composites from wood flour, high-density polyethylene and basalt fibers

Basalt fiber can be used as a reinforcing phase to improve the mechanical properties of wood thermoplastic composites. The purpose of this study was to use differential scanning calorimetry to study the effect of the addition of basalt fiber and wood flour on the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-based composites. The Avrami method and Avrami–Ozawa method were adopted to describe the non-isothermal crystallization process, and Gaussian model was used to calculate the surface activation energy. This study showed that the addition of basalt fiber and wood flour significantly changed the crystallinity of wood flour/high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/basalt fiber three-phase composites. The apparent activation energy of the three-phase composites was calculated using Gaussian multi-peak simulations, and the trend of the conversion rate was modeled. In addition, basalt fiber and wood flour, as nucleating agents, had the ability to accelerate the crystallization of wood flour/high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/basalt fiber three-phase composites without changing the crystallization mechanism of these composite materials.