Modified wood fibre reinforced polypropylene composites at a wood fibre content of 50 wt. % are prepared using different types of wood fibres (beech wood refiner fibre, mercerised beech wood refiner fibre, mercerised and bleached beech wood refiner fibre as well as beech wood chips, mercerised beech wood chips, mercerised and bleached beech wood chips) to improve the impact resistance of the final composite. Additionally a beech wood refiner fibre-PP composite as well as a beech wood chip-PP composite are mixed with regenerated cellulosic fibres (5 wt. % and 10 wt. %) to further enhance the impact resistance. To increase the interfacial adhesion with the matrix and to improve the dispersion of particles two different coupling agents with contents from 2 wt. % to 8 wt. % are tested with two wood plastic composites (WPC). One is made of beech wood refiner fibres and the other one is produced from beech wood chips. The present study investigated Charpy impact property of wood fibres reinforced polypropylene as a function of fibre modification, content of regenerated cellulosic fibres and coupling agent. From the results it is observed that beech wood refiner fibre-PP composites show better Charpy impact properties than beech wood chips-PP composites. Charpy impact resistance is improved by mixing regenerated cellulose fibres (RCF) and RCF-PP-granule with beech wood refiner fibres and chips. The maximum increase in impact resistance is two times for refiner fibres and 10 % RCF-PP-granule respectively three and a half times for chips and 10 % RCF-PP-granule. By adding coupling agent Charpy impact resistance is nearly doubled for all wood fibre-PP composites.
