Comparative Mechanical Characterization of Recycled PVC and  Wood–Plastic Composites

Eylia Abbas Jafri; Shaheryar Ahmed Khan; Ifrah Asif; Sohail Hasnain; Muhammad Areeb Rizwan

doi:10.36561/ING.30.2

Authors

Eylia Abbas Jafri NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0859-4134
Shaheryar Ahmed Khan NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1600-7322
Ifrah Asif NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7551-2199
Sohail Hasnain NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2970-2908
Muhammad Areeb Rizwan NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2635-6116

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36561/ING.30.2

Keywords:

Wood–plastic composite, Recycled PVC, Tensile tests, Flexural tests, Hardness, ASTM standards, Mechanical properties, Sustainability

Abstract

Recycled polymers offer opportunities for circular material use, yet their mechanical performance is often limited by feedstock variability. This study provides a controlled comparison of neat recycled PVC and WPC (PVC + 20 wt.% wood flour) processed under identical extrusion and compression-molding conditions. Tensile, flexural and hardness tests were conducted according to ASTM standards, and results are reported as mean ± standard deviation (n = 5). The WPC exhibited modest but measurable increases in tensile strength (~12%), flexural strength (~8%), and Shore D hardness (~8.5%), while tensile and flexural moduli remained statistically comparable between the two materials. Flexural modulus exceeded tensile modulus for both materials, consistent with surface-dominated stress distributions in bending. The findings demonstrate that incorporating 20 wt.% wood flour into recycled PVC can enhance selected mechanical properties without compromising stiffness, offering a performance profile consistent with material-substitution pathways in circular-economy strategies. The study also highlights the influence of recycled feedstock variability and identifies the need for future microstructural characterization to confirm the hypothesized deformation and failure mechanisms.

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