Properties of particleboard from Petai Belalang and Kelempayan / Nur Nadira Usop

This experiment focuses on alternative raw materials of Petai belalang and
Kelempayan wood in order to complement rubberwood to manufactured
particleboard. The homogeneous particleboard with density 650kg/m3 had
been mixed with three kind of resin content; 7%, 9% and 11% respectively.
The ratio of the Petai belalang and Kelempayan is divide into three categories;
100% of Petai belalang, (50:50) Petai belalang mixed with Kelempayan and
100% of Kelempayan. The particleboard that had been made were test
according to EN Standard for modulus of rupture (MOR), modulud of
elasticity (MOE), internal bonding (IB), thickness swelling (TS) and water
absorption (WA). According to the result, for the mechanical properties
which are MOR and IB was passed the standard with the higher value is
13.30MPa and 2.25MPa respectively. For physical properties, the board
contain 11% resin content shows the lowest thickness swelling. It shows that,
higher resin content has lower thickness. By increasing the resin content, the
mechanical properties of the particleboard improved, and the dimensional
stability of particleboard improved partially.