PROCESSING AND CELL MORPHOLOGY RELATIONSHIPS FOR MICROCELLULAR FOAMEDPVC WOOD-FIBER COMPOSITES/

In this research, the effects of the materials and the processing cond itions on the cell morphology of foamed PVC/wood-fiber composites were studied with a view to establishing their process-structure relations hips. Each step of microcellular PVC/wood-fiber composites processing is addressed, including the surface treatment of the wood-fiber, mixin g of polymer and wood-fiber, manufacture of the composites, the satura tion of the composites with gas, microcellular foaming of the composit es, and characterization of the cell morphology. The cellular morpholo gies of the foamed PVC/wood-fiber composites are a strong function of the content of plasticizer and the surface treatment of wood-fiber as well as the gas saturation and foaming conditions.