BRE IP2/04 PDF

Wood and polymers are working together to bring new performance properties previously unavailable. Composites of wood and polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyvinylchloride and plastic lumber are a hot topic in building products today. The automotive market is another pioneer for these products. Beyond these two established markets, a myriad of industrial and consumer uses represent major emerging outlets for wood composites. Heightened demand for these products is driven by greater durability, lower maintenance, lighter weight, and lower cost across all major applications. New compounding technologies allow for the thinner profiles needed for such uses as window profiles, expanding potential use of composites beyond the thick profiles used for decking.

This information paper briefly covers the content and manufacture of WPCs and their benefits and disadvantages from a market point of view. When the raw materials are recycled and waste material from various sources there can be problems with consistency and contamination. This is linked to the lack of standards for these manufactured composites. However, where the raw materials are of good quality, the composites have more consistent properties than natural wood and offer a lower whole life cost because of reduced maintenance requirements.