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Global overview Generally, there are four main factors that make the use of natural fibres and wood in plastics attractive: (1) they enhance specific properties e.g. stiffness and thermal behaviour (2) they reduce the price of the material (3) they heavily improve the bio-based share and (4) they are better recyclable when compared to glass fibres.outdoor composite solid wood When compared with glass fibre, wood fibre offers a weight reduction for the composite, which can be an important factor in transport costs. After more than 30 years of market development, in 2010 global wood-plastic composite production reached 1.5 million extruded tonnes, which would mean, with an average wood share of 50%, 750,000 tonnes of wood - which is still only a fragment of the total timber market. WPC is predominantly extruded world- wide to hollow or solid decking boards and is predominately replacing tropical wood. The oldest market can be found in North America where a few big companies make the running. Global production of WPC, and the forecast Today’s major production growth rates of WPC can be found in the Chinese WPC-extrusion (25% p.a.) and also Chinese domestic demand for WPC is growing. China’s WPC industry is the second largest in the world after the United States. According to the forecast (Fig. 1) China will reach 33% of the global WPC production in 2015, following the USA,composite board for decking which produces almost half of the total global market share. After China, South East Asia, Russia, South America and India are rapidly emerging WPC markets. Decking continues to be the most common field of application for WPCs, also in Europe, where sales of solid profiles are rising compared to hollow ones, but injection moulded decking tiles are also produced. In Europe the WPC decking market has reached the mature stage, which means lower growth rates for the companies involved. This development is driving producers to look for new areas of application. Initially this was in the field of garden fencing and siding. There have been several research attempts to produce WPC window and door frames, or parts thereof, however the bending pressures on the frames and doors are such that WPC is not successful when applying the current production technology, this will change soon as there are companies, that stand on the edge to the commercialisation. There are still a lot of areas where WPC could expand its share in the non- structural area, such as staircase pillars, balcony pillars, floor tiles,outdoor waterproof floor wall trim and customized technical profiles Materials and Prices Worldwide it is predominately PE and PVC that are used in WPC production, but PP is also of importance, especially in Europe (mainly in injection moulding). Most WPC compounders are located in Germany. The prices of WPC and natural fibre granulates vary enormously and the figures provided by the manufactures range between 1.0 €/kg and up to 4 €/kg. Beologic, the largest manufacturer of WPC granulates in Europe, offers prices from 1.10 to 1.60 €/kg. Soft wood is globally the first choice as a fibre source for WPC, although also rice husks play a role, especially in China. Wood prices differ from 0.2 – 0.4€/kg, depending on the quality and the region. If wood is mixed with more expensive biopolymers the reduction of the composite price can be remarkable and the wood always enhances the biobased share. In addition a special cellulose based compound has recently been offered by paper companies such as UPM-Kymmene and Mondi- packing.wood plastic composites flooring These are based on pulp and have relatively low fibre shares of 20-50%. In the extrusion process fibre shares of up to 80% have been reached, in injection moulding typical fibre shares of 30-40% can be used.
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