A Review of Wood Polymer Composites Rheology and Its Implications for Processing

Despite the fact that wood polymer composites are interesting materials for many different reasons, they are quite difficult to shape through standard polymer processing techniques, such as extrusion or injection molding. Rheological characterization can be very helpful for understanding the role played by the many variables that are involved in manufacturing and to achieve a good quality final product through an optimized mix of formulation and processing parameters. The main methods that have been used for the rheological characterization of these materials are capillary and parallel plate rheometry. Both are very useful: rotational rheometry is particularly convenient to investigate the compounding phase and obtain structural information on the material, while capillary viscometry is well suited to understand final manufacturing. The results available in the literature at the moment are indeed very interesting and are mostly aimed at investigating the influence of the material formulation, the additives in particular, on the structural, mechanical, and morphological properties of the composite: despite a good number of papers, though, it is difficult to draw general conclusions, as many issues are still debated. The purpose of this article was to overview the state of the art and to highlight the issues that deserve further investigation.