Physical and mechanical properties of sandwich board using particleboard (oil palm trunk) as a core and laminated with selected wood veneer species (kedondong, meranti and simpoh spp) on furniture application. / Sofia Sarah Haidzir

The world is slowly turning into a global village and borders that once stood
between cultures now serve as bridges for the enjoyment of diversity between
people of different races and ethnicities. At the forefront of this change are
technology and commercialisation of new raw materials, which stands as the
global medium to create invention especially in furniture industries. Oil palm
trunk is one of a species that not well being known by people about its potential
to be marketable in this modern renaissance of human interaction. This study
propose is to bring out the properties of OPT in terms of utilisation, economics
and trade. Sandwich board made from Meranti spp. veneer shows better
performance in strength (MOR, MOE, and IB). Kedondong spp. veneer also has
good performance strength properties. Even the strength seems to be equally
the same with Meranti spp. veneer. Simpoh spp. do have great strength
properties. However, the texture of Simpoh spp. is not suitable for bonding
process as it has coarse and uneven texture. Simpoh spp. might be suitable for
other application such as, railway sleepers, paneling and many more.