WOOD RESEARCH Volume 66, Number 6, 2021
Radosław Mirski, Aleksandra Banaszak, Ewa Fabisiak, and Joanna Siuda

Anatomical properties of straw of various annual plants used for the production of wood panels

The aim of this study was to determine basic anatomical features of annual plant fibers used as wood substitutes for the production of wood-based panels. For this purpose rye, wheat, triticale, rape and corn straw were used. The determination of the morphological features of the fibers was conducted on the macerated material. Fiber lengths, fiber diameters and lumens were measured, and then the fiber wall thicknesses and slenderness ratios were calculated. The result clearly showed significant differences among all fiber characteristics of the tested plants. The strength and direction of the relationship between the anatomical properties determined in the study and the physicomechanical properties of the boards produced with straw from the tested annual plants were identified.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 65, Number 5, 2020
Ana Laura Soler Cunha Buzo, Sergio Augusto Mello Silva, Vinicius Borges De Moura Aquino, Eduardo Chahud, Luiz Antonio Melgaço Nunes Branco, Diego Henrique De Almeida, André Luis Christoforo, João Paulo Boff Almeida, and Francisco Antonio Rocco Lahr

Addition of sugarcane bagasse for the production of particleboards bonded with urea-formaldehyde and polyurethane resins

The present study deals with a production of pine particleboards using the sugarcane bagasse content and using castor-oil based bicomponent polyurethane resin and urea-formaldehyde resin. The influence of incorporation of sugarcane bagasse on the physical and mechanical properties of the composites was evaluated. The particleboards were produced according Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 14810, but performance requirements have been analyzed using Brazilian and international standards, as well. Treatment 2, using PU resin, were considered the best treatment using pine residue and sugarcane bagasse, presenting physical properties values 60% lower and mechanical properties 65% higher on average when compared with panel without sugarcane bagasse, indicating the good performance of sugarcane incorporation and the possibility of its use on commercial purpose for thermal and acoustic insulation. The addition of sugarcane bagasse improved physical and mechanical properties of particleboards when compared to panels manufactured from pine wood particles only. Statistical analysis indicated that moisture content and bagasse content were significant, enhancing properties when compared with reference treatments.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 65, Number 5, 2020
Mahdi Santoso, Ragil Widyorini, Tibertius Agus Prayitno, Joko Sulistyo, and Noor Hamidah

Effect of pressing temperatures on bonding properties of sucrose-citric acid for nipa palm fronds particleboard

The objective of this study was to investigate the properties of nipa front particleboard bonded using the combination of sucrose and citric acid, and the effect of different pressing temperature. The results showed that the adding citric acid to sucrose and increasing pressing temperature increased the physical and mechanical properties of the nipa fronds particleboards. FTIR analysis results indicated that the peak intensity of C=O ester group and C–O–C hemiacetal group increased and the hydroxyl OH groups decreased with increasing pressing temperature and addition of citric acid, which indicated that crosslinking between sucrose and citric acid occurred. TG-DTA analysis confirm that increasing pressing temperature and addition of citric acid to sucrose increasing thermal stability of nipa fronds particleboards, which is suspected caused by the polycondensation reaction between sucrose and citric acid.