Steam-pressing mechanism of low density magnesia-bonded wood-wool panel

In this paper, wood-wool panel was prepared by steam pressing as opposed to the traditional cold-pressing and hot-pressing methods in order to eliminate the shortcomings of both methods. Cold pressed wood panels have low strength. The overall performance of heat pressed wood panel was poor. The water absorption of these two panels was too large. The steam pressing mechanism was studied by the means of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. The surface structure, moisture absorption and mechanical properties of wood-wool panel were investigated by experimental testing and numerical analysis. The surface structure of the wood-wool panel became stable, the moisture absorption was reduced, and the mechanical properties of the wood-wool panel were enhanced. The static bending strength of autoclaved wood-wool panel was 4% higher than that of cold-pressed wood-wool panel, and 7.4% higher than that of hot-pressed wood-wool panel. And the sound absorption coefficient increased by 6.3% and 5% respectively. The thermal conductivity was 2.4% lower than that of cold-pressed wood-wool panel.