Valorization of wood shavings waste for the production of wood particulate composites

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties of particleboards using particles from wood shaving at three urea-formaldehyde adhesive contents: 6, 9 and 12% (dry mass basis). The particleboards were produced with nominal density of 0.70 g.cm-3, pressing cycle with temperature of 160 °C, pressure of 3.92 MPa and time of 8 minutes. The properties of water absorption (WA), thickness swelling (TS), both after 2 and 24 hours, apparent density, compression ratio, perpendicular traction, modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) in static bending, Janka hardness and screw withdrawal resistance were evaluated. The results of the tests indicated that with the increase of the adhesive content from 6 to 12%, there was no significant statistical difference for the average values of apparent density and compression ratio, being 0.621 g.cm-3 and 1.234, respectively, and the WA and the TS are decreased after 2 and 24 hours. There was a gain of 93% for the MOR property and 64% for the MOE property with the increase of the adhesive content. For perpendicular traction, the highest mean value was 0.67 MPa, referring to the panels with 12% of adhesive. For Janka hardness, the treatments with contents of 9 and 12% of adhesive presented the highest average values being of 21.60 and 25.26 MPa, respectively. In general, the use of wood shavings is feasible for the production of particleboards with a 12% adhesive content.