Effect of Temperature on the Uniaxial Tensile Properties of Wood Plastic Composites: Experimental Investigation and Numerical Analysis

Abstract

Seven groups of uniaxial tensile experiments on wood plastic composites with a High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) matrix at different temperatures were completed in this paper. The test temperatures ranged from -60 °C to 60 °C, with a temperature difference of 20 °C for each group. All samples exhibited tensile brittle fracture. The test results showed that the tensile strength of the specimens decreased continuously with increasing temperature. Taking 0 °C as the reference temperature, the ultimate strength of the sample at -60 °C was 1.63 times that at 0 °C. When the temperature was 60 °C, this value was 0.41. Then, it can be calculated that the ratio of the strength of the sample at -60 °C to that at 60 °C was approximately 3.93, and the corresponding ratio of the elastic modulus was approximately 4.52. This shows that the mechanical properties of WPC are sensitive to changes in temperature. The variation coefficient of the average strength and elastic modulus of WPC for different specimens at different temperatures was less than 0.17, showing good stability due to the small dispersion of mechanical properties among different samples at any specific temperature.