Types of Reconstituted
Types of Reconstituted
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Types of Engineered Panel
Engineered Wood
Engineered wood, also called composite wood, includes a range of
derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding together
wood strands, particles, fibers, or veneers with adhesives to form
composite materials.
Typically, engineered wood products are made from the same hardwoods and
softwoods used to manufacture lumber. Sawmill scraps and other wood waste
can be used for engineered wood composed of wood particles or fibers, but
whole logs are usually used for veneers, such as plywood. Alternatively, it is also possible to
manufacture similar engineered cellulosic products from other lignin-containing materials such as rye
straw, wheat straw, hemp stalks, or sugar cane residue, in which case they contain no actual wood
but rather vegetable fibers.
Characteristics
Engineered wood products are used in a variety of ways, often not very similarly to solid wood.
Engineered wood products are preferred over solid wood in many applications due to a certain
comparative advantages:
Although engineered wood products use the resource of wood efficiently and therefore promote
natural resource conservation, the required adhesives may be toxic. A concern with some resins is
the release of formaldehyde in the finished product, often seen with urea-formaldehyde bonded
products.
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Types of Engineered Panel
Many non-wood products are finding their way into traditional wood products. As example in "types"
below, gypsum board and cement board usually contain no wood or cellulose but have been designed
to replace plywood in some applications demanding wet strength or fire proofing. A wider term used
is "structural composites". As example, fiber cement siding is a construct of cement and wood fiber,
while cement board is a low density cement panel, often with added resin, faced with fiberglass mesh.
Plastic extrusion mixes of wood fiber and thermoplastic, such as polypropylene, has given rise to
decking and railing material resistant to weather and is steadily replacing rot resistant wood.
Multi-laminar Veneer
Multi-laminar Veneer
Multilaminar wood veneer uses plantation wood to reproduce decorative effects which are
typical of quality wood species (often protected and rare).
This aids the preservation of biodiversity and complies with the principles of
Sustainable forest management.
Glulams, like other engineered wood products, represent an efficient use of available timber. With
an increased demand for lumber worldwide, the amount of solid timber available has steadily
declined. Glulam structural members thus make use of smaller and less desirable dimensions of
timber, yet are engineered to be stronger than similarly sized members comprised of solid wood.
Plywood
Plywood
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Types of Engineered Panel
Plywood was the first type of engineered wood to be invented. It is made from thin sheets of
wood veneer, called plies or veneers.
These are stacked together with the direction of each ply's grain differing from its neighbors' by 90°
(cross-banding). The plies are bonded under heat and pressure with strong adhesives, usually phenol
formaldehyde resin, making plywood a type of composite material. A common reason for using
plywood instead of plain wood is its resistance to cracking, shrinkage, twisting/warping, and its
general high degree of strength.
Types of plywood
The most common varieties of softwood plywood come in three, five or seven plies with a metric
dimension of 1.2 m × 2.4 m or the slightly larger imperial dimension of 4 feet × 8 feet. Plies vary in
thickness from 1/10" through 1/6" depending on the panel thickness. Roofing can use the thinner
3/8-inch plywood. Floorboards are at least 5/8-inch depending on the distance between floor joists.
Plywood for flooring applications is often tongue and grooved. Two of the edges will have "grooves"
notched into them to fit with the adjacent "tongue" that protrudes from the next board.
High-strength plywood, known as aircraft plywood, is made from mahogany and/or birch. It was
used for several World War II fighter aircraft, including the British-built Mosquito bomber.
Plywood production
Plywood production requires a good log, called a peeler, which is generally straighter and larger in
diameter than one required for processing into dimensioned lumber by a sawmill. The log is peeled
into sheets of veneer which are then cut to the desired dimensions, dried, patched, glued together
and then baked in a press at 140 °C (280 °F) and 19 MPa (2800 psi) to form the plywood panel. The
panel can then be patched, resized, sanded or otherwise refinished, depending on the market it was
intended for.
History
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Types of Engineered Panel
Plywood has been made for thousands of years; the earliest known occurrence of plywood was in
ancient Egypt around 3500 BC when wooden articles were made from sawn veneers glued together
crosswise. This was originally done due to a shortage of fine wood. Thin sheets of high quality wood
were glued over a substrate of lower quality wood for cosmetic effect, with incidental structural
benefits. This manner of inventing plywood has occurred repeatedly throughout history. Many of the
great English furniture makers such as Sheridan used veneer as a raw material.
Modern plywood in which the veneer are cut on a rotary lathe from softwood logs is of relatively
recent origin, invented by Immanuel Nobel. The first such lathes were set up in the United States in
the mid-19th century. Plywood has been one of the most ubiquitous building products for decades.
Plywood terminology
Plywood grades are determined by the veneer quality on the face and back of each panel. The first
letter designates quality of face veneer (best side), while the second letter denotes the surface quality
of the back of the panel. The letter "X" simply indicates the panel was manufactured with exterior
type adhesive.
"A" Highest grade quality available. Can be defect free or contain small knots, providing they are
replaced with wooden plugs or repaired with synthetic patch. May contain occasional surface splits
that are repaired with synthetic filler. Surface is always sanded and provides for smooth paintable
face quality.
"B" Second highest quality veneer grade. Normally a by-product of downgraded "A" quality veneer.
Solid surface, but may contain small diameter knots and narrow surface splits. Normally repaired
with wooden plugs or synthetic filler. Surface normally sanded smooth.
"C" Considered to be a lower end face quality, but a reasonable choice for general construction
purposes. May contain tight knots up to 1½ inches diameter, some open knot holes, some face splits,
and discoloration. Some manufactures may repair the defects with synthetic filler. Panels typically not
sanded.
"D" Considered to be the lowest quality veneer and often used for
the back surface for construction grade panels. Allows for several
knots, large and small, as well as open knots up to 2½ inches
diameter. Open knots, splits, and discoloration are acceptable. "D"
grade veneers are never repaired or sanded. Not recommended for
permanent exposure to weather elements.
Plywood applications
Oriented strand board, or OSB, or waferboard, is an engineered wood product formed by layering
strands (flakes) of wood in specific orientations. In appearance it has a rough and variegated
surface with the individual strips (around 2.5 by 15 cm (~1 inch by ~6 inches) each) lying unevenly
across each other in the direction of their grain.
It is manufactured in wide mats from cross-oriented layers of thin,
rectangular wooden strips compressed and bonded together with wax
and resin adhesives (95% wood, 5% wax and resin). The layers are
created by shredding the wood into strips, these are sifted and then
oriented on a belt or wire cauls. The mat is made in a forming line, the
layers are built up with the external layers aligned in the panel direction
and internal layers cross-oriented. The number of layers placed is
determined partly by the thickness of the panel but is limited by the
equipment installed at the manufacturing site, however individual
layers can also vary in thickness to give different finished panel
thicknesses. Typically a 15 cm layer will produce a 15 mm panel
thickness. The mat is placed in a thermal press to compress the flakes
and bond them by heat activation and curing of the resin that has been
coated on the flakes. Individual panels are then cut from the mats into
finished sizes. Most of the worlds OSB is made in the USA and Canada
in large production facilities. The largest production facilities can make over 1,000,000,000 square feet of
OSB per year.
Different qualities in terms of thickness, panel size, strength, and rigidity can be imparted to the OSB by
changes in the manufacturing process. OSB panels have no internal gaps or voids, and are water-resistant,
although they do require additional membranes to achieve impermeability to water. The finished product
has similar properties to plywood, but is uniform and cheaper. It has replaced plywood in many
environments, especially the North American structural panel market. The most common uses are as
sheathing in walls, floors, and roofs.
While OSB does not have grain like a natural wood, it does have a specific axis of strength. This can be
seen by observing the alignment of the surface wood chips. The most accurate method for determining
the axis of strength is to examine the ink stamps placed on the wood by the manufacturer.
There is some debate over the environmental impact of OSB. It allows producers to use tree species such
as aspen or poplar that are unfit for standard veneer plywood or lumber. The production method uses
almost all the wood of the harvested trees, and small, young trees and lower quality fast growing species
can be used. Due to the type of resins used in wood-based structural use panels like OSB, they emit very
low levels of formaldehyde. The emission levels have been found to be not more than 10% of the criteria
of key national standards.
All wood-based structural use panels can be cut and installed with the same ease and types of equipment
used with solid wood. In 2001, 19.4 million m³ of OSB panel was produced in the US. The US is Canada's
largest OSB market, receiving 98% of its export product in 2005.Review of Canadian Structural Panel
Market
Some manufacturers add zinc borate, 2ZNO.303.3.5H20, a powder which is toxic to termites and molds
and fungus but not mammals in applied doses. Buyers should ask whether zinc borate is added to their
purchase.
Wafer board
Wafer board
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Types of Engineered Panel
Waferboard belongs to the subset of reconstituted wood panel products called flakeboards, which
is a type of particleboard.
Particle Board
Particle Board
Particle board (called "chipboard" in the UK and Australia) is an engineered wood product
manufactured from wood particles, such as wood chips, sawmill shavings, or even saw dust, and
a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded.
Particle board is a type of fiberboard, a composite material, but it is made up of larger pieces of wood than
medium-density fibreboard and hardboard.
Characteristics
A major disadvantage of particle board is that it is very prone to expansion and discoloration due to
moisture, particularly when it is not covered with paint or another sealer. Therefore, it is rarely used
outdoors or places that have high levels of moisture, with the exception of some bathrooms, kitchens and
laundries, where it is commonly used as an underlayment beneath a continuous sheet of vinyl floor
covering. In such an installation the edges must be properly covered upward against the wall and joints and
non-covered edges must be properly sealed against moisture penetration. A higher quality material not
subject to expansion is underlayment-grade plywood, which is constructed without interior voids in its
layers to better resist the high local pressure from objects such as stiletto heels.
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Types of Engineered Panel
Plywood, as an alternative to natural wood, was invented during the Second World War but by the end of
the 1940s there was not enough lumber around to manufacture plywood affordably. Particle board was
intended to be a replacement. The first commercial piece was produced during the war at a factory in
Bremen, Germany.
It used waste material such as planer shavings, offcuts or sawdust, hammer-milled into chips, and bound
together with a phenolic resin. Hammer-milling involves smashing material into smaller and smaller pieces
until they pass out through a screen. Most other early particle board manufacturers used similar processes,
though often with slightly different resins.
It was found that better strength, appearance and resin economy could be achieved by using more uniform,
manufactured chips. Manufacturers began processing solid birch, beech, alder, pine and spruce into
consistent chips and flakes. These finer layers were then placed on the outsides of the board, with the
central section composed of coarser, cheaper chips. This type of board is known as three layer particle
board.
More recently, graded density particle board has also evolved. It contains particles that gradually become
smaller as they get closer to the surface.
Manufacturing
Particle board is a form of fiberboard. Other fiberboards include medium density fiberboard (MDF) and
hardboard. Particleboard is the least dense of these and, therefore, the least strong. Other forms of wood
sheet products include plywood, which is constructed by gluing together thin sheets of wood (veneer).
Particle board is manufactured by mixing wood particles or flakes together with a resin and forming the
mix into a sheet. The raw material to be used for the particles is fed into a disc chipper with between four
and sixteen radially-arranged blades. The particles are first dried, after which any oversized or undersized
particles are screened out.
Resin, in liquid form, is then sprayed through nozzles onto the particles. There are several types of resins
which are commonly used. Urea formaldehyde resin is the cheapest and easiest to use. It is used for most
non-water resistant boards. Melamine formaldehyde resin is significantly more expensive, as it is moisture
resistant. Phenol formaldehyde is also fairly expensive. It is dark colored and highly durable. These resins
are sometimes mixed with other additives before being applied to the particles, in order to make the final
product waterproof, fireproof, insectproof, or to give it some other quality.
Once the resin has been mixed with the particles, the liquid mixture is made into a sheet. A weighing device
notes the weight of flakes, and they are distributed into position by rotating rakes. In graded density particle
board, the flakes are spread by an air jet which throws finer particles further than coarse ones. Two such
jets, reversed, allow the particles to build up from fine to coarse and back to fine.
The sheets formed are then cold-compressed to reduce their thickness and make them easier to transport.
Later, they are compressed again, under pressures between two and three megapascals and temperatures
between 140 and 220 degrees Celsius. This process sets and hardens the glue. All aspects of this entire
process must be carefully controlled to ensure the correct size, density and consistency of the board. The
boards are then cooled, trimmed and sanded. They can then be sold untreated, or covered in a wood veneer.
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Types of Engineered Panel
Particleboard and other manufactured boards have had a very positive impact on timber resources,
stemming almost entirely from the use of recycled materials. Seventy-five percent of particleboard
manufactured in Canada and the US is constructed entirely from recycled materials. The remaining twenty-
five percent of boards are constructed partially from recycled material and partially from virgin wood.
These mixed panels have an average recycled content of sixty-six percent. This is still significantly more
resource efficient than solid wood, even when considering that in many cases these panels will be covered
with a thin veneer of virgin wood.
Europe consumes around 45 million cubic metres of particleboard and MDF every year. If solid wood
were used instead of these manufactured boards, an enormous burden would be placed on the
environment. It lessens the need for trees to be felled, while at the same time reducing waste.
Furniture design
Large companies such as Freedom and Ikea base their strategies around
providing well-designed furniture, at a low price. In almost all cases, this
means particleboard. Ikea’s stated mission is to “create well designed
home furniture at prices so low as many people as possible will be able
to afford them”. They do this by using the cheapest materials possible,
as do most other major furniture providers. As a result, solid wood furniture has become an expensive
luxury and particleboard the norm.
Safety
Safety concerns arise from the glue which is used to glue the particles together in the production, and some
people believe that the dust produced is toxic. In most boards, this resin is formaldehyde based.
Formaldehyde is classified by the European Union as a likely human carcinogen. 99.99% of this chemical
is contained within the board by the curing process. However, when using power tools on the boards,
much more is released in wood dust, which must be removed. This is done by dust extraction, with
extractors running at at least ten to twenty metres per second capture velocity.
Particleboard’s selling point is its price. However, it has several other advantages, one of which is its
stability. Solid wood is prone to warping and splitting with changes in humidity, whereas particleboard is
not. This stability enables new design possibilities, without having to take into account seasonal variations.
Untreated particleboard will disintegrate, however, when exposed to high levels of moisture.
Solid wood has structural advantages over particleboard. It is stronger, allowing it to support greater
weights as shelves or other furniture; unless braced or built with thick material, particle board shelves may
visibly sag over time. Solid wood is also more durable. Most damage to solid wood can be repaired easily,
often simply by sanding. Any damage to particleboard is difficult to repair.
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Types of Engineered Panel
Many people consider solid wood furniture to be more attractive than particleboard. However, the veneer
on particleboard is usually cut from wood selected for its appearance and so has the potential of being just
as attractive.
Wood Flour
Wood Flour
Wood flour is finely pulverized wood that has a consistencey fairly equal to sand, but can vary
considerably, with particles ranging in size from a fine powder to roughly the size of a grain
of rice.
Most wood flour manufacturers are able to create batches of wood flour that have the
same consistency throughout. All high quality wood flour is made from hardwoods
because of its durability and strength. Very low grade wood flour is occasionally made
from sapless softwoods such as pine or fir. Wood flour is commonly used as a filler in thermosetting
resins such as Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, also known as Bakelite; and in Linoleum floor
coverings. Wood flour is also the main ingredient in wood/plastic composite building products such
as decks and roofs
Fibreboard
Fiberboard
Fiberboard is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers.
Hardboard
Hardboard
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Hardboard was invented by Daniel Manson Sutherland in 1898, at Sunbury Common in Spelthorne
near London. He formed the Patent Impermeable Millboard Company to market and develop his
invention
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Types of Engineered Panel
MDF has been controversial in regard to its use of formaldehyde resins and the associated health risks.
Thus, other resins are being considered and used instead of formaldehyde.
Manufacturing
MDF is a wood product created by breaking down a softwood into a powder, which is then mixed
with wax and resin. The final finish is created by submitting the boards to high temperatures.
In Australia the main species wood used for MDF is plantation-grown radiata pine. However a variety
of other products have also been used including other woods, waste paper and fibres.
The trees are debarked after being cut. The bark can be sold for use in landscaping, or burned in on-
site furnaces. The debarked logs are sent to the MDF plant where they go though the chipping process.
A typical disk chipper contains 4-16 blades. Any resulting chips that are too large may be re-chipped;
undersized chips may be used as fuel. All chips are then washed and checked for defects.
The chips are then compacted using a screwfeeder, and will be heated for 30-120 seconds to soften
the wood; they are then fed into a defibrator which maintains high pressure and temperature. The pulp
that exits from the defibrator is fine, fluffy, and light in weight and in colour.
From the defibrator the pulp enters a blow line where it is joined with wax (to improve moisture
resistance) and resin (to stop the pulp from forming bundles). The material expands in size and is then
heated by heating coils. When it comes out it may be stored in bins for an indefinite length of time.
After this drying period the board goes through a "Pendistor" process which creates 230-610 mm thick
boards. Then it is cut and continues to the press. Here it is pressed for a few minutes, to make a
stronger and denser board.
After pressing MDF is cooled in a star dryer, trimmed and sanded. In certain applications boards are
also laminated for extra strength.
The Environmental Impact of MDF has greatly improved over the years. Today many MDF boards
are made from a variety of materials. These include other woods, scrap, recycled paper, bamboo,
carbon fibres and polymers, steel, glass, forest thinning and sawmill off-cuts.
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Types of Engineered Panel
Benefits of MDF:
Different kinds of
There are different kinds of MDF, which are sometimes labeled by color:
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