Thursday, January 9, 2014

Posted by Unknown On 12:04 PM
Plastic lumber is also known as composite lumber, because it is made with various substances that improves upon the material’s strength and durability. This material often uses recycled plastic components, making for an environment friendly building material. Moreover, it can withstand wet weather more readily and efficiently than ordinary lumber.

Single Polymer

As the name implies, single polymer plastic wood is made up of just one type of plastic. The material commonly uses recycled high density polyethylene or HDPE, which is also used to make detergent bottles and plastic bags. Thanks to its composition, single polymer plastic is more consistent than other plastic lumber materials.

Bio-Composite

Essentially, the components of bio-composite plastic lumber include shredded wood, flax, straw, rice hulls, and similar materials, which are embedded in a thermoplastic matrix. However, as these materials have short fibers, bio-composite materials tend to weaker than wood. This is why bio-composite plastic lumber must have about 50% or less of these short fiber materials to be considered plastic wood.

Fiberglass Reinforced

Fiberglass is an excellent building material as it can significantly improve the strength of the material it’s added to without significantly increasing its weight. Hence, fiberglass-reinforced wood sees plenty of use in tall buildings, marine equipment and structures, and even massive load bearing structures, thanks to its outstanding properties.