Bonding properties of poly(vinyl chloride)-based wood–plastic composites bonded with epoxy adhesive

This article studied the bonding properties of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)-based wood–plastic composite (WPC) materials bonded with epoxy adhesive. The results show that the dry compression shear strength of bonded specimens glued with epoxy adhesive could reach 72% of the strength of the PVC-based WPCs themselves. That meant the bonding connection with epoxy resin was feasible in the application of PVC-based WPCs. The results show that the compression shear strength after the damp cycle was 0.981 times the compression shear strength without any treatment. In addition, the retention rate of the compression shear strength was 87.7% after the UV aging test process set in this study. In this study, the surface morphologies of bonded specimens glued with epoxy adhesive after a boiling–drying treatment and UV aging were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of SEM show that the glue line became rough in different degrees after the damp cycle and UV aging. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012