The Utilization of Ijuk Fibre and Sawdust for Manufacturing of Composite Block with

Plastic Waste as the Matrix

Abdurachman, Jamaludin Malik

Forest Products Research and Development Centre

Jl. Gunung Batu No. 5 Bogor 16001 Ph. 0251 8633378 Fax. 0251 8633414
Corresponding author: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of research on the utilization of waste wood in the form of wood-
chips of sengon wood (S), and sawdust of pinewood (P), mixed with palm-fibers and plastic waste of
polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), for the manufacture of wood plastic composite (WPC)
products. The WPCs were made in three variations mixtures of flakes, fibers and the matrix which
were (b/b): A = 50:25:25, B = 50:30:15 and C = 50:15:35. The homogeneous mixtures with water
content of <10% were molded and pressed at 180ºC with a pressure of 25 kg/cm2 for 20 minutes. The
target of composite density is ≥ 0.60 g/cm3 and maximum moisture content of 12%, then in-
conditioning for 5 days. Preparation of samples test of physical and mechanical properties of the
composite refer to the procedure and criteria of SNI 8154: 2015.
The results revealed that the densities of the WPC are in accordance with the target ≥ 0.60 g/cm3
where the highest by 0.874 g/cm3 belongs to the composition of PEPB. While the lowest by 0.699
g/cm3 belongs to PPSB. The composite moisture content is much lower than the maximum water
content required ie 12%. The lowest thickness swelling of 13.97% occurred on board of PEPC
composition. This value does not meet the SNI standard because it requires the maximum value by
4%. MOE and MOR of the WPC that meet the standard requirement belong to the composition of
PPSA and PESB by 20450.67 and 20286.67 kg/cm2, respectively (MOE) and by 187.08 and 194.11
kg/cm2, respectively (MOR). The highest screw-withdrawal strength was 71.33 kg achieved by PESC
composition. Based on these characteristics, sengon and pine wood chips can be used as raw material
for wood plastic composite mixed with palm-fibers as the reinforcing fiber and recycled plastic as the
matrix.

Keywords: wood plastic composites, sawdust, fibers, recycled plastics.

I. INTRODUCTION
Wood-plastic composite (WPC) is one of wood products that are currently developing
and experiencing an expansion of market share. According to Schwarzkopf and Burnard
(2016), WPC is a composite containing wood components in the form of wood particles and
polymer (plastic) matrix. This product has been used in a variety of structural and non-
structural applications ranging from building components/materials and home furnishings to
outdoor decking products such as garden furniture. But according to (La Mantia and
Morreale, 2011) and Eder and Carus (2013), applications in construction and automotive are
the most common throughout the world.
The main materials of wood-plastic composite are wood particles or other
lignocellulosic materials and polymers or plastics, the development of this product in
Indonesia is very promising due to public awareness of environmental aspects. According to

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Febrianto (2005), the development of wood-plastic composites will have a positive impact on
forest sustainability. Forest sustainability will be more assured because the pressure on the
forest as a producer of solid wood will be reduced. This is because the wood particles or
fibers for wood-plastic composite product can be obtained from fast-growing timber, the
waste of wood industry, even from natural fibres of agricultural crops.
One potential source of raw materials that can be made wood-plastic composite is
wood-waste from wood industry. Data from the Ministry of Forestry in 2004 showed that
wood waste produced by plywood and sawn timber industries was around 7.5 million m3. It
has not utilised optimally yet (Anonim, 2004). Purwanto (2009) details the amount of waste
produced from plywood industries by 54.81% of the volume and from sawmill industries by
40.48% per year. Other information states that based on the results of sawn timber production
data in 2007 amounting to 525,209 m3 with the sawing recovery of 50%, there is waste in the
form of slabs (about 25.9%), offcuts wood (14.3%), and sawdust (10.6%). Thus, the sawdust
is estimated to be 52,000 m3 (Aviliani, 2010). This volum of the waste does not include the
one from unregistered sawmills.
Beside sawdust, there are other organic materials that can be the component in the
manufacture of wood-plastic composites, namely ijuk - Aren palm fibre produced from Aren
palm trees (Arenga pinnata). These fibres are black, strands of yarn, wiry, less than 0.5 mm in
diameter, rigid and ductile (not easily broken). They are non-wood ligno-cellulose fibres
which are found in the base and palm leaves (Soeseno, 1992 in Jatmiko, 1999). Palm trees
produce the fibre at 4-5 years of age. Satisfactory palm fibre is obtained from old trees, but
before fruit bunches appear (around 4 years of age), because when fruit bunches appear, the
fibres become small. Randing (1995) stated that the addition of the palm fibre in the
manufacture of composite minerals, namely concrete tiles has been proven to be able to
improve the mechanical properties of the tile, such as increasing flexural strength and
reducing its brittle properties. Yuwono (1994) also prove that the addition of palm fibre causes
test objects (roof tiles and wall panels) not to experience a shock-fracture when loaded.
Research and characterization of wood-plastic composites in Indonesia has been started
since the early 2000s, among others by Sulaeman (2003), Setyawati (2003), Sari et al. (2011),
Risnasari, (2008) and Yuniari (2007). But in the previous studies, there has been no addition
of palm fibre for the mixture of the composite material. This paper presents study on the
manufacture of wood-plastic composites with the addition of the palm fibre.

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II. EXPERIMENTAL
A. Materials
The materials used in this study were pine wood (Pinus merkussii) sawdust and sengon
(Paraserianthes falcataria) wood-chips (Figure 1), palm fibre from Aren tree (Arenga pinnata)
and ore-shaped plastic waste from polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) polymers. The
chemicals used including technical acetone, hardener, Deton matrix, technical MgCl2 and
technical NaOH. Supporting materials include silicone plastic, aluminum foil, plastic buckets,
plastic tubs, and aluminum plates.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(e) (f)
Figure 1. Material used in this research: (a) wood powder; (b) wood chips; (c) unshreded
palm fibre; (d) shreded palm fiber; (e) polyethylene (PE) dan (f) polimer polypropylene (PP)

The equipment used in this study was wire sieve mesh, sprayer gun, scissors, iron plate,
dial caliper, mold, hot press machine, weighing scale and UTM test machine.

B. Composite making process

The manufacture of wood-plastic composites from sawdust or wood flakes passed
through the same process. The sawdust or the flakes were dried in an oven at 60ºC to reduce
the excess of moisture content for 3 days, then dried at the temperature of 100 ± 3 ºC for 48
hours until they reached the moisture content below 10%. The particles were mixed with
plastic ore until homogeneous, then put into a mold and pressed at the temperature of 180ºC

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with the pressure of 25 kg/cm2 for 20 minutes. The flakes, the palm fibrr and matrix mixtures
were made in three variations of composition, namely (w/w): A = 50:25:25, B = 50:30:15 and
C = 50:15:35.
The target density of the composite was determined ≥ 0.60 g/cm3 and the moisture
content was not more than 12% as required by SNI 8154:2015 for wood plastic composites.
The composite boards were removed from the mold and then pressed with an iron plate and
conditioned for 5 days. The composite boards made of 30 x 30 x 1.5 cm. For physical and
mechanics properties tests, the test samples of the composite boards were made according to
the procedures of SNI 8154:2015 - Wood Plastic Composites.

C. Testings and analysis

The parameters tested consist of: (i) physical properties including panel density,
thickness swelling, and internal bonding strength; (ii) mechanical strength includes
flexural/bending strength (MOE and MOR), tensile strength and screw pull strength.
In the analysis, all parameters were compared to the referred standards which in
accordance with the parameter being tested, namely: tensile strength of palm fiber referred to
ASTM D-88, analysis of chemical components referred to TAPPI (1996), shear strength test
referred to ASTM-94-2002, testing of product quality referred to ASTM D 7031-04
(Anonymous, 2006) and SNI 8154: 2015 (BSN, 2015).

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. General characteristics
The composites were made in the form of a flat board of pine sawdust and sengon
flakes with the mixture of palm fiber and recycled plastic type of polypropylene (PP) and
polyethylene (PE) (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

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Figure 2. Wood plastic composite made from pine and albizzia wood particle with the matrix
of PE

Figure 3. Wood plastic composite made from pine and albizzia wood particle with the matrix
of PP

According to Mapleston (2001), the variety of plastic wood composite products makes
it difficult to conduct discussions including comparing with other studies. The characteristics
of wood plastic composites depend on the uniformity of their constituent material properties,
the interaction between the material, the manufacturing process, product design and
environmental factors. Therefore, the most important thing is the extent to which the wood
plastic composite product meets the requirements of the standard. The results of this study are
compared with the applicable standards in Indonesia, namely SNI 8154: 2015 - Wood Plastic
Composites (BSN, 2015).

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 The average values of physical and mechanical properties of the composites made from
a mixture of pine wood powder and sengon wood flakes plus palm fiber using PE and PP
matrices are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Mean of physical and mechanical of composite board to be tested

Physical properties Mechanical properties

Density Moisture Thickness Water MOE MOR Internal Screw-
Type of Wood
Composition (g/cm3) Content swelling Absorption (kg/cm2) (kg/cm2) bond withdrawal
Plastic Species
(%) (%) (%) (kg/cm2) strength
(kg)
PP Pinus A 0,827 5,01 34,43 63,32 12.426,37 116,71 2,57 47,87
B 0,836 3,98 59,82 97,32 6.110,97 91,50 1,64 40,93
C 0,789 3,21 21,24 48,35 13.245 135,53 2,81 63,73
Sengon A 0,810 2,20 37,13 61,28 20.450,67 187,08 2,29 63,07
B 0,699 2,74 33,92 71,77 16.695,67 146,59 1,63 57,60
C 0,802 2,76 14,52 54,63 14.508,67 140,91 2,53 67,60
PE Pinus A 0,840 3,94 22,12 45,72 12.446,23 117,79 2,81 56,93
B 0,874 2,03 35,52 50,96 16.369 119,21 1,70 59,27
C 0,832 2,91 13,97 34,94 7.469,9 105,62 2,92 59,33
Sengon A 0,810 3,92 21,93 44,59 17.388 160,11 2,95 57,53
B 0,834 1,47 29,74 52,58 20.286,67 194,11 1,94 68,67
C 0,787 2,61 15,68 34,68 13.860,67 158,47 2,91 71,33
Remarks: PP = Polyproylene , PE = Polyethylene, A = 50:25:25 (b/b), B = 50:30:15 (b/b), C = 50:15:35

B. Density and moisture content

From Table 1, it can be seen that the density and moisture content of the composite
boards made from pine wood powder and sengon wood flakes and mixed using PP and PE
matrices with the composition of A, B and C are not significamtly different. This is because
the density of the composite boards made with these compositions reached the target of 0.60
g/cm3. The highest density of the wood plastic composite board was 0.874 g/cm3 obtanied by
pine wood composite board using PE matrix with the ratio of B (50:30:15). While the lowest
was 0.699 g/cm3 belongs to sengon wood composite board using matrix PP in the composition
of B.
The moisture content of wood plastic composites, in general, was much lower than the
maximum water content required which is ≤ 12%. Even the moisture content of plastic wood
composites made in this study is lower according to JIS A5908: 2003 standard.

C. Thickness swelling
The thickness swelling of the composite boards can be seen in Table 1 and Figure 4. In
Figure 4 it can be seen that the largest thickness swelling is 59.82% achieved by pine wood
composite board with PP matrix at B ratio and the lowest 13.97% on wood composite board

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pine with PE matrix. According to SNI 8154: 2015 standard, the maximum of the thickness
swelling value of plastic wood composite should not more than 4%. Thus there is no
combination of plastic wood composite results corespond to the requirements of the standard.
However, it is necessary to know the effect of treatment, namely the type of matrix, the type
of wood, and the composition of the mixture of particles, fibres and matrices on the thickness
swelling, as presented by the analysis of variance in Table 2.

Remarks:
PPPA-C = composite block made from pine wood with PP matrix with the composition of A - C
PPSA-C = composite block made from albizzia wood with PP matrix with the composition of A - C
PEPA-C = composite block made from pine wood with PE matrix with the composition of A - C
PESA-C = composite block made from albizzia wood with PE matrix with the composition of A - C

Figure 4. Mean values of swelling of the composite block

Table 2. Analisis of variance of the effect of wood species, matrix and composition to the
thickness swelling
Source df Sum of square Mean squares Fcal Sig.
Matrix type (P) 1 1059.177 1059.177 23.04** 0.0001
Wood type (J) 1 242.996 242.996 5.29 0.0305
P*J 1 205.492 205.492 4.47 0.0451
Composition (K) 2 3089.703 1544.852 33.60** 0.0001
P*K 2 279.232 139.616 3.04 0.0667
J*K 2 397.629 198.815 4.32 0.0249
P*J*K 2 255.318 127.659 2.78 0.0823

In Table 2 it can be seen that the type of matrix has a very significant effect on the
thickness swelling at 5% confidence level. Also it can be seen that the lowest thickness
swelling is 13.97% belongs to the composite board made of pine wood powder using PE
plastic with the mixture composition of pine wood powder, palm fibre and matrix of 50: 15:
35.

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D. MOE dan MOR
Graphically, MOE and MOR values of the composites can be seen in Figure 5 (a and b)
and the analysis variance of the effect of matrix type, wood type, and composition of the
mixture of particles, and fibres on the MOE can be seen in Table 3.

Figure 5. Mean values of MOE (a) and MOR (b) of the composite baords
Table 3. Analisis of variance of the effect of wood species, matrix and composition to the
MOE
Source df Sum of squares Mean Squares Fcalc Sig.
Matrix type (P) 1 4802964. 454 4802964.454 0.63 0.4364
Wood type (J) 1 308403940.721 308403940.721 40.23** 0.0001
P*J 1 5341799.521 5341799.521 0.70 0.4121
Composition (K) 2 75989022.402 37994511.201 4.96* 0.0158
P*K 2 176929962.834 88464981.417 11.54** 0.0003
J*K 2 19366964.324 9683482.162 1.26 0.3009
P*J*K 2 54837075.201 27418537.600 3.58* 0.0437

Table 3 shows that the type of wood has a very significant effect on MOE while the
composition of the wood particle mixture has a significant effect on MOE. The interaction
between the types of matrices with the composition of particle mixture is very influential on
MOE. This means that the three composing materials of the composite boards, namely wood,
palm fibre and recycled plastic contribute to the properties of the composite board. From

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Table 1 it can be seen that the values of mechanical properties associated demonstrated
different values. The highest MOE value of 20,450.67 kg/cm2 was achieved by sengon wood
composite board using matrix PP on the ratio of mixture: 50: 25: 25. The highest MOR of
194.11 kg/cm2 was achieved by sengon wood composite board using the matrix PE in the
ratio of 50:30: 15.
Referring to SNI 8154: 2015, the wood plastic composites with MOE values that meet
the standard requirements are PPPSA and PESB with the values of 20,450.67 and 20,286.67
kg/cm2, respectively (Figure 5). The standard requires a minimum MOE value of 20,000
kg/cm2. The minimum MOR value according to the SNI requirements is 180 kg/cm2. Thus, as
can be seen in Figure 6, the composition that fulfills the requirements are also PPPSA (MOR
= 187.08 kg/cm2) and PESB (194.11 kg/cm2).

E. Internal bonding and screw holder strength

SNI 8154: 2015 - Plastic wood composites - does not require testing the internal
bonding sttrength test. However, to find out the value, the test was carried out by referring to
SNI 03-2105-2006 - Particle board - and requires a minimum value for internal bonding
strength of 1.50 kg/cm2. The plastic wood composites made had higher internal bonding
strength values than the minimum values required. The lowes value was 1.63 kg/cm2 belongs
to the composition of PPSB and the highest value was 2.95 kg/cm2 at PESA (the composition
of 50 : 25 : 25).
The results of the anova of the effect of the matrix type, type of wood, and composition
of the mixture, fibres and matrices on internal bonding strength are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Analisis of variance of the effect of wood type, matrix and composition to the
internal bond

Source df Sum of squares Mean of square Fcalc Sig.

Matrix type (P) 1 0,792 0,792 16.27** 0,0005

Wood species (J) 1 0,011 0,011 0.22 0,6438
P*J 1 0,118 0,059 1.21 0,0479
Composition (K) 2 0,108 0,054 1.10** 0,0001
P*K 2 0,012 0,006 0.12 0,3155
J*K 2 0,212 4,350 0.0479 0,3478
P*J*K 2 4,020 82,560 0.0001 0,8845

From Table 4, it can be seen that the type of matrix has a very significant effect on the
internal bonding strength at a 5% confidence level. The composition of the particle mixture

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also has a very significant effect on internal bonding strength. This means that the three
forming materials of the composite boards, namely wood, palm fibre and recycled plastic
contribute to the properties of the composite board.
The screw-hold strength is presented in Figure 6. From this figure it can be seen that the
highest screw pull/hold strength of 71.33 kg is obtained by the sengon wood composite board
with PE matrix and the composition of 50:15: 35. And the only composition meets the
requirements of SNI 8154 : 2015 - Plastic wood composite, because the standard requires a
minimum screw-hold strength by 70 kg.

Figure 6. Mean values of the screw-withdrawal strength of the composite block

IV. CONCLUSION
Wood waste in the form of flakes or sawdust of pine and sengon wood mixed with palm
fibres (ijuk) as the reinforcement can be used as raw material for wood plastic composite
board using recycled plastic as the matrix. Mechanical strength properties values can provide
an overview of the use of composite boards.
The density of the composite boards made reached the minimum density of 0.60 g/cm3
and the moisture content, in general, was much lower than the maximum water content
required which is ≤ 12%. The lowest thickness swelling is 13.97% reached by the composite
board made of pine wood powder using PE plastic with the mixture composition of pine wood
powder, palm fibre and matrix of 50: 15: 35. The wood plastic composites with MOE values
that meet the standard requirements are PPPSA and PESB with the values of 20,450.67 and
20,286.67 kg/cm2, respectively. The composition that fulfills the requirements of MOR are
also PPPSA (MOR = 187.08 kg/cm2) and PESB (194.11 kg/cm2). The plastic wood

10
composites made had higher internal bonding strength values than the minimum values
required (1.50 kg/cm2). The highest screw pull/hold strength of 71.33 kg is obtained by the
sengon wood composite board with PE matrix and the composition of 50:15: 35.

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