Influences of Layered Structure on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Kenaf Core Particleboard

Abstract

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), a fast-growing fiber crop, is a potential substitute for wood to make composition boards. This work investigated single-and three-layer kenaf core particleboards (KPBs) and kenaf core-cedar wood composite particleboard (KCPB) with polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pMDI) and phenol formaldehyde (PF) resins. The physical and mechanical properties including bending modulus (MOE) and strength (MOR), internal bond (IB) strength, water absorption (WA), thickness swelling (TS), and linear expansion (LE) were tested following the ASTM D 1037 and ANSI A 208.1 standards. It was shown that kenaf core can be made into standard-satisfying particleboards with comparable performances to cedar-based wood panels. Three processing factors, i.e., board density, resin content, and layered construction, had significant influences on panel properties. KPBs denser than 0.70 g/cm 3 and with 6% PF met with the standard specifications. The WA, TS, and LE of single-layer KPBs decreased with increased density. Three-layer KPBs showed improved MOE, MOR, and IB strengths, and effectively avoided the unbalanced structure shown in the single-layer KPBs in thickness direction. The three-layer KPBs with a 50:50 surface-to-core ratio had the best comprehensive performances. The results can be helpful for the application of kenaf residues in the wood composites industry.

Properties of Particleboard Produced from Red Pine (Pinus brutia) Chips and Lavender Stems

“…Studies have been conducted to find the suitable agrofibers for composite manufacturing (Bektaş et al 2005). Some of the agrofibers studied so far are cotton and hemp stalks (Kollmann 1966), groundnut shell (Jain et al 1967), bagasse (Mitlin 1968;Turreda 1983), grain-wheat straw (Mosesson 1980;Han et al 1998), bamboo (Rowell and Norimoto 1998), tea plant waste (Nemli and Kalaycioğlu 1997;Yalinkiliç et al 1998;Filiz et al 2011;Batiancela et al 2014), sunflower stalks (Khristova et al 1998;Bektaş et al 2005), vine branches (Ntalos and Grigoriou 2002), castor stalks (Grigoriou and Ntalos 2001), corn stalks (Güler et al 2001), wheat straw and corn stalks (Wang and Sun 2002), kiwi branches (Nemli et al 2003), peanut shell (Batalla et al 2005), almond shells (Gürü et al 2006), agricultural waste (Arslan et al 2007), giant reed (Garcia-Ortuna et al 2011), kenaf (Xu et al 2013), kenaf and rubberwood (Abdul Halip et al 2014), sunflower seed husks (Cosreanue et al 2015), and hazelnut husk (Avcı et al 2013).…”

Effects of Resin Content on Mechanical and Physical Properties of Treated Kenaf Particleboard

“…It was found that the density of kenaf stem was much denser compared to the core and can also be processed into fine particles that is suitable for making particleboards. Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a non-wood fiber crop that comes from Africa [6]. Kenaf is a fast-growing species and was introduced to Malaysia bio-composite industry by the National Kenaf and Tobacco Board (NKTB).…”

“…It contains a higher lignin content and less cellulose compared to the bast fiber. Bast fiber contains over 44.4 % cellulose, 21.1 % lignin, 2.7 % extractives and 4.6 % ash [6,[10][11][12].…”