Chipping and flaking

Blender material (resin+wood)

Cold press

Drying below 10%

Screening

Mat forming

Hot press

Oil palm plantation

Testing

Trimming into desired length

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Manufacturing of Particleboard

Figure 3.1: Manufacturing process of particleboard

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3.2 Preparation of Particleboard

3.2.1 Preparation of Raw Material

Plate 3.2.1: Pluck the oil palm fronds

The raw material in this research is oil palm frond that was obtained from Hutan

Simpan UiTM Cawangan Pahang. Through sickle the tree, 20 pieces of frond was

cut while the leaves and thorn were removed. The frond were cut into three parts;

middle, top and bottom.

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3.2.2 Chipping and Flaking

Plate 3.2.2: Wood Chipper Machines

Plate 3.2.2.1: Wood Flaker Machine

The wood veneer is chipped using chipper machines and the chip is being reduced

to fine flakes by using the flaker machines to get the desired thickness and length.

This contributes to the optimum strength and smooth finish on the surfaces of the

boards.

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3.2.3 Drying and Screening

Plate 3.2.3: The screening of the particles

Plate 3.2.3.1: Particle put into oven for reduce moisture content

The screening process is the dried flakers are screened to separate fine and coarse

particles. The wet flakes are dried in the oven at required moisture level. At

drying process, the flakes with the separate sizes, of the particles size 1.0 mm and

2.0 mm only, into oven dry, between 800c and 850c temperature for 24 hours with

moisture content below 10%. This process was done to avoid particleboard

structure ahead damaged problem.

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3.2.4 Glue-Mixing & Blending

Plate 3.2.4: The conducting of particleboard mixer

This process is mixing all material (resin, wood material; oil palm frond particles,

phenol formaldehyde (PF)). The particles are weighed and after few minutes

rotating in particle mixing machine, the PF is put into the machine for about 10

minutes and followed by the mat forming process.

3.2.5 Mat Forming

Plate 3.2.5: Mat forming process

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The particle mixture is weighed at desired amount. For one layer it was then put it

into the mould and pre-press for making mat forming. The mould dimension that

used is 350mm x 350mm. This process and mixing process is repeated three times

to make 3 boards differentiated by PF content. This process is to remove the air

bubbles between particles and to reduce the size of the mat.

3.2.6 Hot Pressing

Plate 3.2.6: Put particles into hot press

After pre-press section, the mat was bought to the hot press section. The

temperature for the hot process is 1700c. There are three cyclic pressure with

different type (1800psi, 180 sec), (1200 psi, 120 sec), (800psi, 60 sec) and six

minutes. The Hot Press which operates automatically on Programmable Logic

Control compresses the mat under high pressure and controlled temperature to

form boards to precise thickness. In this section, it should not have the air inside

the mat, if it still rights there the low quality of production will produce. Beside

that it needs to achieve the required thickness (12mm).

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3.2.7 Trimming

Plate 3.2.7: Trimming of the particleboard

Before the trimming process, the board must be kept cold that took 3-5 minutes to

cold. Then the finished boards were cut to desired length, width and to square the

edges, usually trimmer will consist of saws with tungsten carbide tips. Lastly the

finishing process of particleboard where, it includes drawing line on the board

based on the standard size of each test.

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3.2.8 Testing

MOE/MOR 1

MOE / MOR 2

IB1 TS1 IB2 TS2 IB3 TS3 IB4

MOE / MOR 3

TS4 IB5 TS5 IB6 TS6 IB7 TS7

MOE / MOR 4

Figure 3.2.8: The cutoff of testing for particleboard

When the boards are trimmed, the boards are used for testing to get the properties

of the board. This study, we have three types of testing has been conducted:

bending, internal bond, and thickness swelling test.

3.3 Method of Testing

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3.3.1 Bending Test

Plate 3.3.1: Bending testing

This testing is to measure the mechanical properties of the particle board. Such as

the measure the Modulus of Rupture (MOR) and Modulus of Elasticity (MOE).

From this testing the mode of failure from testing as well as for structural

application requiring strength and rigidity is identify. For this particleboard, the

testing for the sample is important to determine the characteristics for overall

samples.

3.3.1.1 Modulus Of Rupture (MOR) :

The index of the ultimate breaking strength when loaded as a simple beam. MOR

is important in applications such as shelving and desk tops. MOR is influenced

directly by the wood species used in the board, board density, particle geometry,

resin content, as a board thickness increase, a greater load is required to cause

failure.

3.3.1.2 Modulus Of Elasticity (MOE):

Value to measure the resistance to bending related to stiffness of a beam. The

load is applied at the middle of the specimen and it will deflect. At proportional

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limit that cause by the deflection, by using the computer. MOE can be can be

calculated by using the beam size, span load and the deflection of the board.

3.3.2 Internal Bonding

Plate 3.3.2: During the internal bonding process

An overall measure of the board’s integrity that defines how well the core

material is bonded together. In the standard test for IB, dimension of 50mm x

50mm piece of particleboard is pulled apart with tension applied perpendicularly

to both faces. IB is influence directly by board density, resin content, particle

geometry and raw material type.

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3.3.3 Thickness Swelling & Water Absorption

Plate 3.3.3: Preparation testing of Water Absorption and Thickness Swelling

These types of testing usually for measurement of the physical properties of

particleboard. The Thickness Swelling and Water Absorption test is done by

soaking the sample to the water. Before soaking the sample to the water the

weight for Water Absorption testing and the length and diameter for Thickness

Swelling testing is recorded.

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