Surface Morphology and Wettability Characteristics of Waste Pine Wood Powder Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

In this study, wood-based composites were prepared from waste pine and epoxy resin for use in water resistant applications. Wood-based composites are produced using waste pine powder in varying weight percentages (10–50 wt.%) within epoxy resin. The study determined that adding waste pine to composites increased compression strength by 103.96% to 582.02% compared to pure resin. However, it was determined that when the percentage of waste pine exceeded 20%, the compression strength of the samples decreased by 24.76%–70.09% compared to the compression strength value of the composite with 20% waste pine added. Furthermore, while the contact angle value of pure resin was 81.33°, the contact angle of wood-based composite samples was shown to be in the range of 83.88°–103.70°. The contact angles of the composites with 40% and 50% waste pine added were 98.49° and 103.70°, respectively. Composites having these contact angles (angles > 90°) also exhibited higher water resistance as their surfaces were not easily wetted by water. In summary, through the synthesis of these composites employing epoxy resin and waste pine powder in varying proportions, they exhibit considerable viability for application in water repellant applications in high humidity surroundings owing to their mechanical and hydrophobic characteristics.