Collaborative Research: Wood Fiber Reinforced Polymers using Ring-Opening Polymers for Structural Applications

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The focus of this collaborative research project will be on the effectiveness of wood fibers to reinforce alternative plastics. A long-standing goal for research on natural-fiber composites has been to replace glass-fiber, reinforced plastics with natural-fiber composites. Natural fibers have excellent mechanical properties and should be able to replace glass-fiber applications in the built environment with a more sustainable material. Unfortunately, the transformation to natural fibers has been slow, in part due to an overemphasis of prior work on "exotic" fibers and on reinforcement of incompatible plastics. Wood fibers are being combined with a polyamide matrix, which has excellent mechanical properties and is likely to be compatible with wood fibers. The composites will be made via ring-opening polymerization of novel oligomeric cyclic amides. This approach avoids the high temperatures in polymer processing that can damage natural fibers. The composites will be characterized for mechanical and interfacial properties. Wood fibers are readily available in commercial wood pulp products. The effect of pulping process on composite properties will be evaluated. All wood-fiber composites will be compared to glass-fiber controls to verify their suitability as a replacement material.Global demand for glass-fiber, reinforced plastics is increasing, but those products are neither renewable nor sustainable. The development of wood-fiber, reinforced plastics will define a new, cost-effective, sustainable, bio-composite material. The deployment of wood-fiber, reinforced plastics would involve collaborations between the wood pulping and the plastics industries. Although the wood pulping industry is larger than the glass fibers industry, it is currently in decline. The introduction of wood-fiber, reinforced plastics could impact the future of this declining US industry and could impact society by providing more sustainable materials. The novel processing methods developed may also lead to new opportunities for using engineering polymers with bio-based materials. This project will train two graduate students in sustainable materials development. Oregon State University has recently transformed its undergraduate curriculum for wood science and engineering department into a "Renewable Materials Program." This project will involve undergraduate researchers, which will enhance an emerging program on sustainable materials. Oregon has many underrepresented forestry students and Southern Mississippi has a sizable minority student population. These students will benefit from training in the broad area of sustainable materials engineering.