Natural fi bres | additives feature
Peter Mapleston looks at a wide range of research and industrial projects aimed at growing the use of natural fi bre reinforcements in thermoplastic compounds
Natural strength: researching renewable reinforcements
Fossil-based thermoplastics as well as biopolymers are increasingly being combined with reinforcing fi bres from renewable resources. Natural fi bres have been used in thermoplastics for decades, but it is only recently that attempts have been made to refi ne them and the ways they are processed so that they can be used as reinforcements in place of glass fi bres, rather than as little more than fi llers. Developments are being driven in part by the need to
reduce the carbon footprint of traditional plastics, and also by the search to increase applications for new bioplastics beyond packaging fi lms and bottles, into more technical areas. In Europe in particular, collabo- rative projects are ongoing that bring together players from all along the supply chain. One of the major hurdles lying in the way of the
successful development of natural fi bre reinforced thermoplastics has been the scarcity of supply of fi bres that are intended for this particular application. It’s something of a Catch 22 situation: the market won’t grow without security of supply, but fi bre producers – many of whom are active in other larger and well- established markets of their own, which have little or nothing in common with plastics – are unlikely to invest in this new area if they can’t be reasonably sure of a short-term return.
www.compoundingworld.com One company that has taken the plunge is Sonae
Indústria, a major producer of wood panels from medium-density fi breboard (MDF) that is based in Portugal and operates 24 plants on three continents. It has developed Woodforce, an engineered MDF wood fi bre diced pellet, using technology licensed from Crown Research Institute Scion of New Zealand. Woodforce is claimed to provide performance
enhancements in various types of thermoplastics (the company cites PP and PE, as well as ABS, PLA and TPE) close to that of short glass fi bre. Christophe Chambon- net, global manager for Woodforce, says that the product is non-seasonal and handles very well in industrial operations. The dice are engineered to consist only of high aspect ratio fi bres, and are not dusty. Sonae Indústria also says that the technology enables weight and cost savings, “with design opportu- nities unrivalled in the natural fi bre sector.” Woodforce’s original license covered Europe only and
the company has recently added production in Meppen, Germany, where it also has a global R&D team. Woodforce is made in an MDF plant by modifying the chemistry and adding dicing equipment at the end of the process. “The capacity of the press in Meppen if we only run it for Woodforce would be 150,000 tonnes a year,” Chambonnet says.
March 2014 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 13
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