Destructive Testing of Wood Plastic Composite

Abstract

The paper deals with destructive testing of �new� group of material - Wood Plastic Composite (in short WPC). WPC emerging from a fusion of two different kinds of components - thermoplastics matrix and natural reinforcement (fibres or flour). Natural fibres offer several advantages - they are renewable, inexpensive, low-density, good isolate a sound and low cost. These components are mixed under the influence of high temperature and then pressed to make various shapes. This material contains cracks localized on the interface between the wood and plastic. These cracks occurred due to inhomogeneity of WPC and affected mechanical properties of final WPC product. The testing of mechanical properties (tensile test and bending test) were determinate in VUHZ Dobra (Ostrava) - following the ISO standards. Significant differences between mechanical properties after testing were caused by non-perfect encapsulation between components and non-homogeneity of materials.