A feasibility study of wood-plastic composite paver block for basic rest areas

Abstract

A wood-plastic composite (WPC) paver block was manufactured using wood chips waste through an extrusion process, and it was intended to be used for paving in basic rest areas. The first stage in this study covered preliminary tests in terms of flexural strength and dimensional swelling to determine the optimal WPC compounding mix condition, by variation of the WPC ingredients. Next, three different paver blocks including the WPC block, a non-porous cement block, and a porous cement block were tested in terms of various material properties in the laboratory. Finally, two outdoor test sections of the proposed paver blocks were prepared to simulate a basic rest area. Test results indicated that the flexural strength of the WPC paver blocks was about 1.6 times greater than that of the tested cement paver blocks. The WPC block pavement was unaffected by water buoyance as well as volume expansion due to swelling. Results from the impact absorbance test and light falling weight deflectometer (LFWD) test clearly showed that the WPC block paving system marginally satisfied the comfortable and safe hardness range from the pedestrians’ perspective, while the results demonstrated that it is structurally sound for application as a road paving block.