**5. Final remarks**

In addition to adding value to postconsumer plastic packaging waste and preventing deforestation, plastic lumber offers other significant benefits, including resistance to fungi and insects and eliminating the need for painting and maintenance.

Its easy processing and the possibility of obtaining different compositions demonstrate the wide variety of properties and applications of plastic lumber. However, when replacing a traditional material with another, it is important to consider the required performance of the product, the application and the cost-effectiveness of the replacement in order to prevent any technical problems related to the characteristics of the two materials and ensure successful usage.

Thus, research is needed to develop new technologies aimed at obtaining recycled material with superior properties at lower economic, environmental and social costs, in order to increase the number of applications for plastic lumber as a replacement for natural wood and help reduce plastic waste accumulation.

**11**

**Author details**

Fernanda A. dos Santos1

São Carlos, SP, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: elen@ima.ufrj.br

*Processing and Properties of Plastic Lumber DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82819*

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

1 Professor Eloisa Mano Institute of Macromolecules, Federal University of Rio de

2 Department of Materials Engineering, Federal University of Sao Carlos,

3 Environmental Engineering Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,

, Leonardo B. Canto2

Leila Lea Yuan Visconte1,3 and Elen B. A. Vasques Pacheco1,3\*

, Ana Lúcia N. da Silva1,3,

*Processing and Properties of Plastic Lumber DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82819*

*Thermosoftening Plastics*

material without silane.

between phases.

addition.

**5. Final remarks**

maintenance.

matrix and wood flour [57–60].

neat plastics, the crosslinked composites showed better flexural strength than the

Lower creep was observed in the crosslinked composites when compared to those without crosslinking. This behavior may be related to the reduced viscous flow in the matrix due to crosslinking and better adhesion between the polymer

Bengtsson et al. [57] evaluated mechanical property variations in WPC treated with silane containing different wood fiber concentrations. The stress-strain curves of the silane-treated composites indicated increased stiffness of the material with the addition of wood flour, in addition to a decline in ultimate strength. There was a significant increase in tensile strength with a rise in wood flour concentration, in contrast to the behavior reported by other authors [33, 61], whereby tensile strength declined with an increase in wood flour content. The authors attributed this behavior to greater interfacial adhesion between the wood and plastic promoted by silane

In addition to adding value to postconsumer plastic packaging waste and preventing deforestation, plastic lumber offers other significant benefits, including resistance to fungi and insects and eliminating the need for painting and

Thus, research is needed to develop new technologies aimed at obtaining recycled material with superior properties at lower economic, environmental and social costs, in order to increase the number of applications for plastic lumber as a

replacement for natural wood and help reduce plastic waste accumulation.

istics of the two materials and ensure successful usage.

Its easy processing and the possibility of obtaining different compositions demonstrate the wide variety of properties and applications of plastic lumber. However, when replacing a traditional material with another, it is important to consider the required performance of the product, the application and the cost-effectiveness of the replacement in order to prevent any technical problems related to the character-

The improved flexural strength is likely due to greater wood-polymer adhesion, enabling stress transfer from the polymer matrix to the wood fibers when the material is overloaded. The authors [58] attributed the superior adhesion to the covalent bond between wood and polyethylene to condensation or free-radical reactions. Furthermore, hydrogen bonding between the silanol groups grafted onto polyethylene and the hydroxyl groups of wood, as well as van de Waals forces between condensed silane in the wood and the polyethylene matrix, can improve adhesion

**10**
