Combining Wood with Polymers

Wood is a natural resource with qualities that are in demand by an environmentally aware society. It is renewable, biodegradable and has a green image not enjoyed by other materials (such as metals, concrete and plastics). Because wood is a biological material, it is subject to variation in properties, such as strength, stiffness and density (both in bulk form and in individual fibres). Wood and wood products also have a propensity to move and change in service, for example, under changing moisture and temperature.

The challenge is to enhance the value of wood by providing uniform performance without compromising its green image. Increasingly polymers will fill this role. Polymers are compounds made up of simple, identical repeated units. They are uniform, predictable and can be designed to form structures with specific properties (flexibility or rigidity, tunable density, or moisture resistance). By combining wood or wood fibres with polymers, the renewability and biodegrability can be retained while improving the variability and stability in service.

Contact: Jeremy Warnes