LAUSR

Abstract The objective of this work was to determine the optimum combination of two materials in production of wood-plastic composites, using response surface methodology (RSM). The two independent variables investigated were the wood content and the silane concentration. The experiments were conducted based on a central composite design. The findings showed that the wood content significantly affected the tensile and flexural properties of the composites as well as their water absorption and the silane concentration also significantly affected the water absorption of the samples. The optimum properties found by RSM were a content of 39.22 wt% wood, 60.78 wt% recycled polypropylene and a 3.44 % silane concentration. The findings from this work can be used to produce value-added and environmentally friendly panels for a variety of different applications.