natural fibres and fillers | Innovation
Above: Elix Polymers has developed natural fibre reinforced ABS grades using Woodforce products. From left, wood fibres, ABS granules, ABS-NF compound
suitable for conversion in lighter and stronger fibre-rein- forced composites and plastics, in food and pharmaceu- tical applications, and in rheology modifiers, as well as in barrier and other paper and coating applications.” Sappi is also the parent to a start-up project called
Symbio. It is investigating the use of cellulose as a reinforcement in plastics and recently began delivering sample quantities of cellulose fibre reinforced polypro- pylene for customer trials (Figure 3). Jacob Hartstra, New Business Development Manager at Sappi, says he sees strong potential for cellulose reinforced plastics in injection moulding in particular. “Contrary to many other natural fibres, our fibre can
be produced at an industrial scale with constant quality, independent of, for example, seasonal influences,” Hartstra says. He also notes that Sappi habitually takes lignin out of the wood fibres it works with (normally to make paper) to remove the brown colour. “That leaves us with white cellulose fibres, resulting in flexibility in the colour of the end product,” he says. Taking out the lignin also removes the smell associated with many natural fibre reinforced materials.
Wood fibres Sonae Arauco has racked up an important success recently with its Woodforce engineered wood fibres. Raymond Loch, Business Development Director for the
Test method
MFI, 190 °C/5kg [g/10min] Tensile modulus [MPa] Flexural strength [MPa]
Notched impact strength (23 °C) [kJ/m²] Notched impact strength (-20 °C) [kJ/m²] HDT A at 1.80 MPa [°C] VOC [µg/g] FOG [µg/g]
Odour 23 °C/24h Flammability [mm/min]
Water absorption, immersion 24h [%] Source: Sappi/Symbio
32 COMPOUNDING WORLD | March 2017
ISO 1183 ISO 1133
ISO 527/5A ASTM D790 ISO 180 ISO 180
ASTMD 648 VDA 278 VDA 278
FLTM BO 131 TL 1010
ASTM D570
product says the company has worked with ABS producer Elix Polymer on the development of natural fibre reinforced injection moulding compounds. The range was created as part of Elix’s strategy to move towards a more sustainable product portfolio. Elix says the compounds have “excellent flowability” and claims that fast and efficient mould filling is possible even for thin wall products. Moreover, the company says fibre degradation levels are very low. The new ABS-based compounds are said to have generated a great deal of interest, especially from the automotive industry where until now polypropylene has been the most commonly used resin reinforced with natural fibres. Target applications include visible interior parts such as door trim and loudspeaker covers and semi- structural interior parts. “For visible parts, the wood-like appearance offers
interesting options while, when coloured, the material opens up new design possibilities with different surface textures,” Loch says. Elix Polymers says it is already working with the design departments of several automotive OEMs. For semi-structural parts, such as centre console
carriers, ABS-NF can replace glass-reinforced ABS that is currently used by some OEMs, Elix Polymers says. Mechanical properties of the two materials are very similar. However, Elix’s ABS-NF is slightly less dense,
Figure 3: Properties of three trial product grades of Symbio cellulose fibre reinforced PP Property
Fibre content, weight% Density [g/cm]
PP20 20
0.96 18
2700 75
3.5 2.5 82 40
220 2.5 36
0.16
PP40 40
1.06 3
4750 100 4.5 3.4
127 6
34
2.7 25
0.41
PPHi40 40
1.06 1
3250 58
8.8 5.1 n.a n.a n.a n.a n.a
0.42
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PHOTO: ELIX POLYMERS
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