Mike Verespej has reported in PLASTICSNEWS.com (Feb 14,2012) that Tech-Wood North America is in the process of shutting down as follows: "Unable to obtain additional financing from its equity investors, 4-year-old Tech-Wood North America -- which was attempting to gain a foothold in the siding market with a product made from liquefied polypropylene and oriented long-strand pinewood fibers – is in the process of shutting down."

Tech-Wood had invested more than $10 million into the WPC technology that it was using to make its siding. Just one year ago, it had begun manufacturing the siding at the company’s plant in Greenwood, S.C., which closed in January. The company had also unveiled plans to make fencing and window sashes and frames from the same technology, and last year began cutting the tooling to make those sashes and frames.

Tech-Wood North America had held exclusive North American rights to the Wood 2.0 technology through a license from Tech-Wood International Ltd of Birmingham, England. Tech-Wood North America was a four-year-old independent company with financial backing from a U.S.-owned and -controlled investor group, which itself had no connection with Tech-Wood International BV of Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Our latest market report into the WPC industry (Dec 2011) mentions the likely use of chicken feathers in new types of resin and filler. Those who are interested in producing WPC completely free of oil-based products should note that an injection-mouldable resin similar to polypropylene has now been developed from a non-food product, i.e. chicken feathers by Eastern Bioplastics.

The resin will be distributed in the UK by A&O Filmpac. Some bioresins have been criticised for distracting farmers from producing food, but this development does not compete with food production. Huge numbers of chicken feathers are landfilled every year.

Geolam Inc., the exclusive distributor of Geolam® products in North America, recently announced the expansion of its distribution network into the United States. Geolam® WPC is based on Japan's Einwood® technology, which it claims has had a proven history of long-lasting performance in the international building industry for more than 25 years. Geolam® is available in the form of decking, siding and trim products.

For more information, visit Geolam® Inc.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM) in Halle, Germany in collaboration with industrial partner Bosecker Verteilerbau Sachsen GmbH are developing an alternative to steel cladding based on eco-friendly materials. Their idea is to replace the steel cladding that protects cables, power outlets and electronic switchgear with honeycomb panels made of a wood-plastic composite (WPC).

UPM has developed a new composite for both industrial and consumer end-uses. The new composite is made from virgin wood fibers and polymers. The proportion of wood fibres in the composite varies from 20 to 60 percent depending on the end-use. It is claimed that it replaces non-renewable materials with renewables.

Applications for UPM’s new composite material include furniture, tableware and other goods for everyday living as well as being suitable for the electronic and automobile industries.

Founded in 1932 and owned by the Gehr family ever since, GEHR GmbH claims to be one of the world's leading manufacturers of semi-finished thermoplastics in addition to pipes and profiles. They have now developed a polyethylene ECOGEHR PE-HD® produced via the intermediates bioethanol and bioethyelene from the renewable resource sugarcane. The advantage of these so called ‘drop-in’ bio-plastics is that they can be produced in the existing PE-facilities. The characteristics of these PEs are said to be the same as those of the conventional petro-based polyethylenes.

Gehr also offers a range of WPC based on a combination of wood fibres with PE, PP or PLA.

As part of its on-going research into composite materials to lighten vehicle parts, Ford Motor is investigating recycling coconut husks as a composite reinforcement. The husks (or coir) - a by-product of garden materials company Scotts Miracle-Gro - would reduce the amount of plastic needed and also provide a more natural look to reinforced parts than traditional fillers, according to Ford Motor.

A multi-disciplinary team from Sweden, Finland and Germany led by Fraunhofer reports progress in the development of an industrially-viable process for the manufacture of wood pulp for injection moulded composites. Innventia and an industrial consortium have developed a promising wood-polymer material from cellulose pulp and PLA called DuraPulp, which is to be launched by Södra (Sweden) this Autumn.

One limiting factor, however, is the lack of an industrially-viable production process for turning DuraPulp material into granules for injection moulding.
The aim of the research project is to change this by introducing a special compounding process. The objective is to achieve a high fibre amount and at the same time a gentle compounding process and homogenous fibre dispersion. The granules will be injection moulded to sample specimens for material properties with characteristics of moulded parts to be tested and evaluated. The possibility of recycling the material with the separation of polymer and fibres will also be explored.

NaturinForm's WPC has been used by Bayerische Maßindustrie (BMI) to produce its new Polywood spirit level. It is said to have a very smooth surface and is designed to withstand considerable voltages, as well as use in such places as coal mines. The manufacturers say there is unrestricted visibility around the spirit bubble.

WPC is often confused with plastic lumber, which is recycled plastics, with no wood. Often it is polypropylene or polyethylene. It has both advantages and disadvantages compared with WPC. Outdoor furniture is a typical application.

A few months ago, one of the UK's leading country estates, Bolton Abbey, in North Yorkshire, installed pinic tables made of plastic lumber as the result of a major 'green' initiative between the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and a local company.

This Summer 1,750 plastic ‘planks’ will be laid into a short walkway through the ancient and protected Wild Ridings copse (nr Bracknell). This initiative is the result of a partnership between Waitrose (a UK supermarket) and plastics recycler Centriforce.

US demand for decking (of all material types) is forecast to rise 2.7% per year to 3.5 billion lineal feet in 2014, valued at US$6.2 billion, according to a recent report from Freedonia. This represents a rebound from the 2004-2009 period, when demand fell less than 1% annually, reflecting the collapse of the housing market between 2007 and 2009. Through 2014, decking demand will be driven by a rebound in housing completions: the residential market, which went down to 59% of demand in 2009 is forecast to recover and advance faster than other markets. Growth will also be supported by a trend for larger decks - and relevant accesories - and homeowners’ desire to add safety features to prevent falls by children or elderly people.

For 18 months, researchers at New Mexico State University’s Department of Industrial Engineering have been investigating ways to combine red chilli plant residues with plastics (also from recycled material). They are exploring a wide range of composite ratios and creating and testing product models against ASTM standards.The research objective is to reduce the cost of WPCs while increasing its mechanical physical properties - and to date the researchers have had some very good results.

For more information, check the the NMSU website.

Trex acquired Iron Deck® (manufacturer of steel deck framing systems) early May and will start manufacturing and marketing new Trex Elevations Steel Deck Framing to complement its decking and railing product lines.

Trex Elevations will allow contractors to provide additional value to their customers’ outdoor living spaces, while creating incremental profits/increased profitability for the contractors. The system offers a 25-year limited warranty – surpassing most pressure-treated lumber. Trex Elevations materials also are composed of 25% recycled steel.

Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP) to commercialise natural, renewable waxes and derivatives as biocide carriers for WPC. The products will be made from vegetable oils. Biocides are used in WPC to protect products from micro-organisms, including fungal growths.
The two companies have completed initial evaluations and identified candidate substances for scale up testing. Commercialisation is expected to begin late this year.
Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. creates speciality chemicals from natural oils by a technique called olefin metathesis. The products are used in a wide variety of ways.

There has been major disruption due to the earthquake and tsunami, with all Japanese car makers having to shut down assembly plants due to lack of supplies from component makers who were sited north of Tokyo. The impact has affected the car makers to varied degrees. Japanese plants in Europe and the USA were also affected, as were non Japanese car makers who sourced specific parts from Japan.
The degree of recovery from this situation will vary. Japanese car makers who can rely on alternative component supply from China will recover faster. Toyota for example, stated that their production would restart within a month of the tsunami but at reduced capacity. Honda and Nissan have also been scrambling to set up alternative supply chains before they can run again at higher production rates. The disruption to the supply chain will have an impact for several months. Other car makers in Europe, such as Audi, have also been hit but are seeking to rebuild contacts with alternative suppliers in Europe.
Certainly in the case of WPC products, most was sourced locally anyway for European auto production but clearly if total production is affected by the availability of other components this is likely to impact the demand for those components based on WPC.

Partly as a result of strife in the Middle East and North Africa, which is expected to continue for some time in one country or another, thermoplastic resin price rises have become even steeper. Increases of over 15% have taken place since November 2010. Wood is only half the price of the commodity resins, so WPC should be less affected than purely thermoplastic products. PVC is cheaper than the polyolefins. If present trends continue, non-petroleum resins may benefit even for use in WPC.

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are made of many different materials, but about 70% is non-metallic. When the PCB is no longer needed, this waste material used to be either landfilled or burned. Dr Hui He of the South China University of Technology has studied the use of the non-metallic waste for making wood plastics composites (WPC). He discussed the work at the Fourth International Forum of Wood Plastic Composites (CPPIA, see www.wpc.cn in Chinese), held in Nanjing in September 2010. Some mechanical properties were given and seemed comparable with ordinary wood flour-based WPC.

Brazilian researchers have published the results of their investigation into the preparation of compatibilisers for wood -polypropylene composites (WPC). They reacted maleic anhydride with a peroxide in an extruder. One of the researchers is from Renault and the context is the automotive industry, which sees possible advantages in reducing weight by replacing talc with sawdust. The technique is not fundamentally new, but the detailed optimisation of maleated compatibilisers still leaves room for improvement, and anyway these additives are not yet produced in Brazil.
Details at Revista Matéria

Océwood decking (manufactured by Océplast) is the first wpc product to be certified under the French quality standard (Norme Francaise) NF 514 .

Viba Group has launched a new anti-shrinkage masterbatch for extruding polyethylene compounds filled with wood flour (WPC). It is well known that woodflour is not ideally compatible with polyolefins, and the end product's properties can be improved in various ways by using various additives.

The Hackwell Group has announced the forthcoming publication of its third report on wood plastics composites in Europe. For more information, please click here.

A new window roller blind application developed by Belgium-based WPC compound producer Beologic with a UK company was on show at Kassel University’s annual natural fibre reinforced composites symposium last June.
This blind uses profiles made of a recycled PVC foamed core coextruded with a thin outer WPC layer, which can be brushed and embossed to provide a real wood appearance.