Development Of Polymer Composite Materials For Packaging And Storage Of Liquid Food Products

Waste wood flour generated by the furniture industry is reincorporated into the supply chain by fabricating polyethylene wood composites using rotomolding. Viability of the manufactured composites for use as storage units for liquid food products is investigated. The diffusion of gaseous and liquid permeants and mechanical phenomena are simulated for the individual phases of the composite using Molecular Dynamics (MD). A methodology for combining MD results with semi empirical modelling is developed in this thesis and its effectiveness for predicting composite properties is demonstrated.