Evaluation of strands alignment system in OSB panels production

Abstract

This work was developed aiming at evaluating the strands alignement system for OSB panels production (oriented strand board). A mat forming box was designed and built to evaluate the efficiency of the alignement system by testing static bending in the aligned and cross directions to the panel axis. Pinus taeda wood was used for stranding, and later on, for blending with fenol formaldeid resin. The experimental design was organized from three strand widths (25, 20, 15mm) and two panel types, homogeneous (HO) and three layer (HE) types, so defining six treatments: T1 - 25HO; T2 - 25HE; T3 - 20HO; T4 - 20HE; T5 - 15HO; T6 - 15HE. The results showed that: There was no variation in density into the produced panels and among treatments, indicating uniformity in the mat forming; The strand width variations had no influency on MOE and on MOR results (perpendicular to the panel axies) both in the homogeneous and in the heterogeneous panels; The homogeneous panels (HO) differed from the three layers ones for perpendicular alignement to the axies, but there was not difference among panels when the alignement is parallel to the axies. For the perpendicular alignement to the fibers, the modulus of elasticity and rupture were different for both, perpendicular and parallel alignement for MOR and MOE, indicating the efficiency of the built mat forming box.