Preparation, morphology, FTIR and performance properties of foaming particleboard

Abstract

AbstractThe application of light weight particleboard in furniture industry becomes more inevitable because of the requirement to facilitate transportation and assembly by the customer. Herein, a novel method for the fabrication of foaming particleboard was proposed, which is achieved by adding azodicarbonamide (AC) foaming agent into the formulation that consist of oven-dry poplar (Populus alba) particles (with the moisture content about 4%) and phenol formaldehyde resin (PF resin) (solid content of 48%). In this study, the effects of AC foaming agent and adhesive contents incorporation and its content on mechanical, physical and chemical properties of particleboards were investigated. The results showed that the addition of AC foaming agent played a critical role in properties of particleboard and the optimal particleboard performance was achieved at the particleboard density of 0.6 g/cm3, the PF resin amount of 12%, and the AC foaming agent amount of 1%. Furthermore, the pores appeared on the particle surface were the products of the radical pyrolysis of the foaming agent, which has been proved by the FTIR results and the pores also affect the properties of the particleboards.