Effect of temperature on the bending and creep properties of wood plastic composites

Abstract

Five groups of three-point bending tests of wood plastic composites (WPCs) at different temperatures were conducted. The test temperatures ranged from −40 to 40°C, and the temperature difference of each group was 20°C. The results show that the bending strength and elastic modulus of the specimens decrease continuously with increasing temperature. Twenty-four-hour bending creep tests of WPCs under a 50% stress level were completed at different temperatures. The Findley model predicted the short-term creep of WPCs better. According to the results of the short-term creep tests, the horizontal shift factor was introduced based on the Prony series model. Then, we proposed a formula for creep compliance over time at different temperatures to predict the long-term creep performance of WPCs under a 50% stress level at different temperatures. The results indicate that when the test temperature is less than 0°C, WPCs can hold the load for 50 years without entering the tertiary creep stage; at 20°C, the WPC specimen will fail at 24 days, whereas at 40°C, the specimen can only last for 24 h and then enters the tertiary creep stage until fracture damage occurs.