Effect of resin type and content on properties of composite particleboard made of a mixture of wood and rice husk

This study investigated the effect of resin type and content on the dimensional stability and mechanical properties of single-layer composite particleboards made of a mixture of wood particles (70 wt%) and rice husk particles (30 wt%). Two types of resin, urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin and phenolformaldehyde (PF) resin, were used in the experiments at three different contents which were 8, 10, or 12 wt%. The dimensional stability of the samples was significantly improved by increasing the resin content. When the contents of the UF and PF resins increased from 8 to 12 wt%, the WA values of the samples decreased to 18% and 33%, respectively. Similar results were also observed for the TS values. The UF resin bonded samples swelled two times more than the PF resin bonded particleboard. The mechanical properties of the PF resin bonded samples were better than the UF resin bonded samples. When the contents of the UF and PF resins increased from 8% to 12 wt%, the internal bond strength values of the samples increased to 21% and 41%, respectively. The bending strength and modulus of elasticity of the samples were not significantly increased by increasing contents of the UF and PF resins, except for the 12 wt% content. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.