Statistical experimental design and modeling of polypropylene-wood fiber composites

The influence of the amount of maleated polypropylene coating of vinyl-tris (a-methoxy ethoxy) silane treated wood-fibers (2 or 10 wt%), type of matri x (polypropylene or maleated polypropylene) and composition (10, 20 or 30 w t%) on the tensile and flexural performance of polypropylene-wood fiber com posites was studied. The effect of these variables on tensile strength, You ng's modulus, elongation at yield and flexural strength was determined thro ugh a 2(2).3(1) factorial design. The analysis of variance of the experimen tal and predicted data shows that the constructed models provide a fair app roximation of actual experimental measurements. Finally, experimental detai ls regarding the preparation of optimum composites as predicted by empirica l models are discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.