Processing of polymer wood composite material from pine cone and the binder of phenol formaldehyde/PVAc/molasses and improvement of its properties

This paper deals with the processing of polymer wood composite material from pine cone and the binder of phenol formaldehyde/PVAc/molasses and improvement of its properties. The most essential disadvantages of wood based materials are water absorption, flammability, and insect attack. These disadvantages limit the areas of use of wood-based materials. The production of pine cone based polymer binding and molasses added composite material, and the development of the nonflammability, insect attack and water resistance properties of this material has been studied in the research. To this end, pine cone, polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), phenol formaldehyde (PF), sugar beet molasses, hemp fiber and waste colemanite have been used in the production of composite materials. Composite materials were added PF and hemp fiber for increasing their water absorption and mechanical strength, and waste colemanite as for improving their nonflammability feature, thus eliminating the disadvantages of wood based composite materials. Besides them, the use of molasses as a substitute binder material in certain proportions instead of PVAc in the production of composite materials was investigated. According to the results of the flexural strength test conducted in the laboratory, the most suitable composite material producing parameters were detected as 0.25 filler/binder (f/b) ratio, 35% molasses ratio, 100 °C molding pressure temperature, 49 kg/cm2 molding pressure, 240 µm mean particle size, 20 min for molding pressure time, 20% PF ratio and 0.5% hemp fiber ratio. It was determined that molasses could be used at a ratio of 35% for producing composite materials and, PF resin and hemp fiber samples provide the necessary water resistance. It was observed that the colemanite waste used in the mixture adds the nonflammability property to the composite material and decreases flexural strength and screw withdrawal strength. As a result of this research; polymer composite materials can be obtained from waste pine cone, molasses, hemp fiber and waste colemanite, environmental friendly. Therefore, it is possible to submit as commercial product in the technological and feasible applications.