Screw Driving Torques in Wood Polymer Composite Compatibilized with Maleic Anhydride-grafted Polypropylene

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of screw driving torques in wood-polymer composite (WPC) compatibilized with maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MAPP). To meet this objective, pine wood flour, polypropylene with coupling agent (maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene) were compounded in a twin screw extruder. The process of screw driving had two main torques, one of which was the seating torque defined as the torque required to clamp parts and other one was the stripping torque defined as the maximum torque right before screw strips in the material and the torque drops suddenly because of the formed screw threads being stripped in wood-based composites. However, there is no such a study about the screw driving torques in WPC compatibilized with MAPP. Therefore, the characteristics of screw driving torques was investigated in this material. Results indicated a good margin between seating and stripping torques when driving screws in the face of WPC compatibilized with MAPP.