Comparison of the pressing behaviour of wood particleboard and strawboard

To improve the understanding of strawboard manufacturing processes, mat pressing behaviour of wood particleboard and strawboard bonded with urea formaldehyde resins were experimentally investigated and compared in terms of mat compressibility, transverse permeability, mat pressure, core temperature, core gas pressure and vertical density profile. The results have shown that straw particles are much more compressible and therefore require less platen pressure for pressing. Compared to wood particle and refined straw particle mats, hammer milled straw mats have low permeability and subsequently show high core gas pressure and high maximum core temperature during hot pressing, in addition to large differential densities between surface and core layers in the final pressed boards. It is recommended that a slower press closing rate and longer press opening time be used to develop the strawboard pressing schedule.     

Phenol-formaldehyde resin curing and bonding under dynamic conditions

Summary To better understand the curing and bonding behavior of phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin under dynamic conditions, flakeboards were manufactured either by conventional pressing at 7% or 12% mat moisture content or by steam injection pressing with 10 or 20 seconds steaming duration. Resin-impregnated glass-cloth samples and lap-shear tension specimens were embedded in the core of each flakeboard. After the flakeboards were pressed for various periods of times, the samples and specimens were quickly retrieved. The degree of resin cure was determined on the resin-impregnated glass-cloth samples by dynamic mechanical analysis. The bond strengths were measured from the lap-shear tension specimens on a mechanical testing machine. The results of resin curing and bonding were then correlated to the performance of the resin-bonded boards, which were evaluated by internal bond, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, and thickness swelling. Resin curing and lap-shear bonding did not proceed simultaneously. In conventional pressing, the mat moisture content (MC) at 12% favored resin curing, but slightly retarded lap-shear bonding, as compared to 7%MC. In steam injection pressing, the rates of resin curing and lap-shear bond strength development were much faster for 20 seconds than for 10 seconds of steaming duration. Longer press times were needed to obtain boards with maximum strength in the 12%MC conventional pressing and the 20-s steam duration steam injection pressing than in those conditions where moisture content was lower or steam time was less. The need for longer press times must be attributed to higher internal vapor pressures and/or lower wood and resin component strengths, rather than to incomplete cure or bonding.This material is based on work supported by the Ministry of International Affairs, Quebec Government, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Laval University (Quebec City). The work was also supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under research joint venture agreement FP-92-1835     

Particleboard made from hammer milled black spruce bark residues

Summary  The disposal of bark residues is an important problem for the forest industry. An important proportion of the bark produced by the paper and lumber industries is used for energy production, but a significant amount of bark is still unused. The objective of this study was to determine the technical feasibility of making particleboards from black spruce bark residues bonded with urea formaldehyde resin and meeting the indoor performance requirements for wood particleboards. In the positive case, this would define a new use for black spruce bark residues. Fresh black spruce bark residues were obtained from a sawmill located in the northeast part of the province of Quebec, Canada. The bark was kiln-dried at 60 °C, the particles were generated from a hammermill and sieved. Particles from 0.02 to 2.0 mm were used in the surface layers and particles from 2.0 to 6.0 mm were used in the core layer. Particleboards of 540 × 560 × 16 mm were made with a laboratory hot press following a factorial design with two manufacturing variables at three levels: (1) wood particles content of the surface layers (0, 25, 50 percent); and (2) UF resin content of the surface layers (12, 14 and 16 percent) with a UF resin content in the core of 8 percent. This resulted in a factorial design of 9 different combinations repeated 3 times for a total of 27 boards. It was observed that the heating kinetics varied according to the wood particles content in the surface layers. The compression ratio of the mat and the board internal bond, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, linear expansion and thickness swell were determined. The results show that it is technically possible to make particleboard from bark residues meeting the American National Standard Institute indoor requirement for wood particleboard under certain conditions. The modulus of rupture of the boards was the most critical property in this study. The best mechanical properties were obtained with a 50 percent wood content and 14 percent resin content in the surface layers. The particleboards produced in this study did not meet the minimal requirements for linear expansion. The temperature measurements performed in the core of the mat during hot pressing show that heat transfer improves with an increase in wood particles content in the surface layers. Received 15 June 1998     

板坯表面喷水对刨花板热压传热的影响

研究刨花板板坯表面增湿处理对其热压过程中表面、中心层温度变化的影响,比较分析不同板材密度和厚度、板坯含水率及热压温度等工艺条件下,板坯中心层的升温速度随其坯表面喷水量的变化曲线,总结出板坯表面增湿处理对其中心层温度的影响规律.     

Manufacture and properties of high-performance oriented strand board composite using thin strands

Three-layered composite oriented strand boards were manufactured using very thin hinoki (Japanese cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa Endl.) strands oriented in the faces and mixtures of sugi (Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica D. Don.) and hinoki particles in the core. The boards were composed of two density levels, with 1:8:1, 0.5: 9 : 0.5, and 0: 10 : 0 face: core: face ratios. Polymeric and emulsion type isocyanate resins were used. The resin contents for the strands in the face and particles in the core were 10% and 5%, respectively. The steam-injection press was applied at 0.62MPa (160°C), and the steam-injection time was 2min. The mechanical and physical properties of the boards were evaluated based on the Japanese Industrial Standard. The parallel moduli of rupture and elasticity along the strand orientation direction and the wood screw retaining force increased with increasing face/core ratios. Incorporation of 10%–20% of thin strands in the face of the boards improved the parallel moduli of rupture and elasticity by 47%–124% and 30%–65%, respectively. In addition, the thickness swelling after water-soaking at 20°C for 24h, and the parallel linear expansion after boiling for 2h and water-soaking at 20°C for 1 h, of the three-layered composite boards were below 8% and 0.15%, respectively, despite a short steam-injection press time. The thickness swelling of the boards decreased with increasing face/core ratios. In contrast, the presence of face strands seems to have a minimal effect on the moduli of rupture and elasticity along the perpendicular direction of the three-layered composite boards. A similar trend was observed for the internal bond strength, hardness, and linear expansion along the perpendicular direction.This paper was presented at the 47th annual meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Kochi, April 1997     

Effect of pre-drying schedule ramping on collapse recovery and internal checking with Victorian Ash eucalypts

Matched sample boards from 20 quarter-sawn boards of Victorian Ash (Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell and E. delegatensis R.T. Baker) were dried using three different levels of ramped pre-drying schedules to investigate the effects of moisture gradients on collapse recovery and internal checking. Prior to reconditioning, most wet cores were found in highly collapsed boards with low density. Reducing the gradients in these boards is crucial for recovering collapse and closing internal checks. If time allows the boards to be equilibrated prior to steam reconditioning, a target mean moisture content of ≤20% with a moisture gradient of close to 5% (core to surface moisture content) is likely to recover slightly more collapse than targeting a mean moisture content close to ≥15%. However, if time or kiln restraints limit equilibration it is likely to be better to target a percentage moisture content of closer to 15% in order to ensure that the core to surface moisture gradients are below 8–10%. The slight reduction in collapse recovery with this second approach is less important than the possibility that collapse and internal checks in the centre of boards with wet cores will not be closed. Care needs to be used with this latter approach not to over-dry some boards, since moisture contents below 15% will progressively reduce collapse recovery. For boards within these moisture content guidelines, the application of heat, rather than moisture pick-up, appears to be the most important component of the steaming reconditioning process. Hence, steaming only needs to be undertaken for long enough to heat the core of the board close to the target temperature of 100°C. A simple method for estimating this heat-up time for different thicknesses and species was demonstrated based on a key dimensionless group for heat transfer, the heat-transfer Fourier number.     

Thickness swelling and density variation in aspen flakeboards

Summary This paper reports the relationship between thickness swelling and density in labmade aspen flakeboards. The boards were manufactured with several levels of initial mat moisture content and urea resin content. Weight increase and thickness swelling at 12 locations on each board were recorded under specified environmental conditions over a period of 71 days. Each board was then cut into 12 specimens, each containing one of the 12 locations at its center, and density was calculated. No definite relationship was found between thickness swelling and density among the 12 specimens of each board. Our results suggest that high initial moisture content and high resin content can decrease thickness swelling. Variations in mat pressure and core temperature during the press cycle and weight increase at 80 percent relative humidity are discussed.The Forest Products Laboratory is maintained in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and it is therefore in the public domain and not subject to copyright     

Performance of particleboard manufactured using air-injection press I: effects of air-injection press on preventing blowout of board manufactured from low-moisture particles

An air-injection press (AIP) was developed to prevent accidental blowouts of boards during production. In this study, the effects of the AIP on preventing blowouts were investigated by artificially creating a blowout-prone condition, and the press was shown to be effective in preventing blowouts. The modulus of rupture of the boards was almost constant irrespective of pressing time. Longer pressing time resulted in higher internal bond strength when pressed at 170 °C. The thickness swelling of the boards pressed at 170 or 190 °C was almost uniform irrespective of pressing time, and the manufactured boards showed performance similar to those manufactured with an ordinary press. The AIP prevented blowouts sufficiently even when the pressure of the injected air was reduced, and this reduction did not adversely decrease the performance of the boards. Air injection reduced formaldehyde emissions from the board.     

Nondestructive evaluation of heat-treated Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden wood using stress wave method

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of heat treatment of eucalypt wood (Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden) on the dynamic modulus of elasticity by using the stress wave nondestructive method and also to determine the air-dry density variation, weight loss and equilibrium moisture content following treatment. Heat treatments were performed at four different temperatures (180, 200, 215 and 230°C) and for three different durations (15?min, 2 and 4?h). The results revealed a significant reduction in air-dry density following heat treatment independent of temperature and time. A significant weight loss was observed between and within treatments. The treatment at 230°C for 2 and 4?h produced a weight loss of 20.5 and 26.5%, respectively, which was statistically different from other treatment conditions. The dynamic modulus of elasticity decreased by about 13% in the most severe treatment (230°C for 4?h). Depending on the temperature and time, the equilibrium moisture content was significantly reduced within the range of 40–74%.     

Bond durability of kenaf core binderless boards II: outdoor exposure test

An outdoor exposure test was conducted on kenaf core binderless boards (pressing temperatures 200°, 180°, and 160°C; pressing pressure 3.0 MPa, time 10 min, target board thickness 5 mm, target board density 0.8 g/cm³) to estimate their bond durability. Modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), internal bonding strength (IB), thickness change, weight loss, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, and color difference (ΔE*) by the CIE L^*a^*b^* system were measured at various outdoor exposure periods up to 19 months. These values were then compared with those of a commercial medium-density fiberboard (MDF; melamine-urea-formaldehyde resin; thickness 9.0 mm, density 0.75 g/cm³). Generally, dimensional stability and the retention ratios of MOR, MOE, and IB after the outdoor exposure test increased with increased pressing temperature of binderless boards. The MOR retention ratio of the kenaf core binderless boards with a pressing temperature of 200°C was 59.5% after 12 months of outdoor exposure, which was slightly lower than that of the MDF (75.6% after 11 months of outdoor exposure). Despite this, the bond durability of the kenaf core binderless boards should be viewed as favorable, especially when considering the fact that the retention ratio of 59.5% was achieved without binder and without obvious element loss. Part of this report was presented at the International Symposium on Wood Science and Technology, IAWPS2005, November 27-30, 2005, Yokohama, Japan     

Study on the effect of nano-silver impregnation on mechanical properties of heat-treated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Populus nigra</Emphasis>

The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of heat treatment of nano-silver-impregnated Populus nigra on weight loss, modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and compression parallel to grain. Specimens were impregnated with 200 PPM water-based solution of nano-silver particles at 2.5 bar in a pressure vessel. For heat treatment, both nano-silver-impregnated and simple specimens were kept for 24 h at 45°C and then further for 24 h at 145°C and finally for 4 h at 185°C. MOR decreased from 529 to 461 kg/cm² in heat-treated specimens; MOE and compression parallel to grain were though improved. Also, comparison between heat-treated and nano-silver-impregnated heat-treated specimens showed that there was a decrease in MOR and MOE in nano-silver-impregnated heat-treated specimens. This shows that nano-silver impregnation facilitates transfer of heat in wood and it may increase the process of degradation and pyrolysis of wood structures in deeper parts of specimens.     

Properties of particleboard produced using a sealed press

In this study, different properties of experimental particleboard produced using a sealed press were determined and were compared with those for particleboard produced using a conventional press. Three types of binder, namely urea formaldehyde (UF), melamine formaldehyde (MUF), and polymethylene diphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI), were used for board production. For the UF-bonded boards produced using the sealed press, the modulus of rupture and the internal bond strength (IB) decreased due to the high temperature and steam pressure used in comparison to the conditions in a conventional press. However, MUF- and PMDI-bonded boards had improved IB and thickness swelling (TS). For the PMDI-bonded boards, especially, the TS was further improved and IB was increased by using a sealed press. PMDI is known to possess superior properties and was confirmed to achieve good properties when used as a binder for particleboards produced using a sealed press.     

微波预热MDF板坯的实验研究

利用微波对MDF板坯进行预热处理的研究结果表明,微波预热处理不仅能够在很短时间内提升板坯的温度,还能使板坯内的水分重新分布。通过处理,板坯表层的水分得到了提高,芯层水分被降低。这一结果有利于板坯在热压时热量从表层向芯层传递,从而缩短热压时间,提高生产效率。     

Effects of strand length and layer structure on some properties of strandboard made from bamboo

Strandboard panels were experimentally produced from moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) using various strand lengths and layer structures to evaluate the effects of manufacturing parameters on panel properties. The strandboard was fabricated in a laboratory using diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) resin and laboratory-made strands of four lengths and four different structures. Strand alignment distributions and concentration parameter (k) values were greatly affected by strand length. A linear correlation was found between the value of k and the modulus of rupture (MOR), with correlation coefficients of 0.81 and 0.93 for unidirectional boards and three-layer boards, respectively. This correlation may be used to predict the strength properties of boards. Bending properties were significantly affected by both the strand length and the layer structure of the bamboo strandboard tested. Elasticity data from unidirectional boards and random boards can be used to predict the elastic properties of three-layer boards. The linear expansion (LE) of the random boards increased with decreasing strand length. The difficulty in mat forming and resin distribution for longer strands could cause deviation in modulus of elasticity (MOE) and LE, especially in strand lengths around 80 mm.     

Development of an air-injection press for preventing blowout of particleboard II: improvement of board properties using small-diameter holes for air injection

An air-injection press, which has holes punched in the heating plates, injects high-pressure air through the holes of one plate into boards during press heating. The air-injection press can manufacture boards from high-moisture-content particles by controlling blowouts of the boards. In this study, boards were manufactured from particles that had a moisture content of 25% by using the air-injection press, which reduced the required pressing time. Boards manufactured by injecting air through holes of 5 mm in diameter were of poor quality with a low internal bond strength of only 0.31 MPa. When the hole diameter was reduced to 1 mm, the internal bond strength increased to 0.44 MPa. A high air-injection pressure of 0.55 MPa also resulted in improved board properties over those for boards manufactured at lower pressures. This was probably because a large amount of binder was released from boards through the 5-mm holes, together with water vapor, during air injection; the small-diameter holes reduced the release of binder, resulting in better board properties.     

Water resistance properties of kenaf core binderless boards

Abstract Binderless boards were prepared from kenaf core under various manufacturing conditions and their water resistance properties were evaluated. The board properties evaluated were retention ratios of modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE), internal bonding strength after water treatment (IB), thickness swelling (TS), water absorption (WA), and linear expansion (LE). These values were then compared with those of boards bonded with urea-formaldehyde (UF), urea melamine formaldehyde (UMF), and phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins, and their water resistance properties were assessed. We found that pressing temperature was one of the most important conditions for the improvement of water resistance properties. The retention ratios of MOR, MOE, and IB of kenaf core chip binderless boards (pressing temperature 200°C, target density 0.8g/cm³, and the three-step pressing of 6MPa for 10min, then 4MPa for 3min, and 2MPa for 3min) were 37.1%, 49.9%, and 55.7%, respectively, compared with values for UMF-bonded boards of 22.5%, 27.1%, and 40.7%, and values for PF-bonded boards of 42.8%, 41.8%, and 54.1%, respectively. The results showed that the water resistance properties of binderless boards were higher than those of UMF-bonded boards and almost as high as those of PF-bonded boards. Part of this article was presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Fukuoka, March 2003     

杉木热处理材结晶度及力学性能的研究

热处理对木材力学性能的影响是多样的,这与热处理条件下木材的物理化学变化密切相关。本次研究将杉木板材在160℃、180℃和220℃常压蒸汽条件下进行热处理,考察处理材的结晶度、抗弯弹性模量、抗弯强度及相互可能的关联。结果表明,热处理使试材结晶度增加,有助于提高木材的刚性,使热处理材的抗弯弹性模量高于常规对照材;结晶度的提高对抗弯强度没有改善作用,热处理后试材的抗弯强度明显下降。     

Effects of sealed press on improving the properties of particleboard

To improve the properties of particleboard, boards were produced using a sealed press. With the sealed press, boards were processed under high-temperature and high-pressure steam. This increased the saturation temperature, causing a dramatic rise in temperature inside the board, faster curing of the binder, and a shorter pressing time. The boards were bonded with urea formaldehyde resin, melamine urea formaldehyde resin, or poly(methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) (PMDI). The sealed press improved the internal bond strength and thickness swelling of boards regardless of the binder used during the reduced pressing time. The increased bonding strength improved the board properties, allowing PMDI with a lower resin content to be used for bonding the boards.     

Development of an air-injection press for preventing blowout of particleboard I: effects of an air-injection press on board properties

An air-injection press was developed to prevent particleboard from blowing out during the manufacturing process. The air-injection press, which has holes punched in the heating plates, injects high-pressure air into the board through the holes of one plate and releases the air through the holes of the other plate. The high-pressure air forces out vapor trapped within the board, thus preventing blowout. The newly developed press reduced the pressing time required for manufacturing board from high-moisture-content particles. However, the manufactured boards exhibited mechanical properties and dimensional stability inferior to conventionally manufactured boards.     

Development of an air-injection press for preventing blowout of particleboard (III): effects of pressing temperature on board performance

An air-injection press, which has holes punched in the heating plates, injects high-pressure air through the holes of one plate into particleboards and discharges the air and vapor through the other plate during press heating. The press can manufacture particleboards from high-moisture particles by preventing blowouts of the boards. In this study, the effects of pressing temperature were investigated by pressing boards at 190, 210, and 230°C. The internal bond strength increased from 0.43 to 0.60?MPa by raising the temperature from 190 to 210°C, but did not increase further when the temperature was raised to 230°C. Raising the temperature from 190 to 210°C also helped improve the thickness swelling. No relationship was found between the modulus of rupture and pressing temperature.