Abstract
Sanding dust is the main source of dust emission during the manufacturing process of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and particle size and shape characteristics are the fundamental properties influencing its environmental influence and handling behaviors. However, there are few deep and comprehensive researches on the morphology of MDF sanding dust. In this study, the morphological characteristics of MDF sanding dust were explored by sieve and image analyses. It was found that more than 95% of MDF sanding dust was inhalable particles smaller than 100 μm, which poses a considerable potential risk to human health and safety, especially with the presence of other chemical constituents. The particle size span of MDF dust was relatively wide though the particle surface texture was quite uniform. The particle geometric proportion represented by aspect ratio decreased markedly with the reduction of particle size. The larger particles presented typical anisotropic structure, while the smaller ones showed homogeneous appearance, indicating quite complex handling behaviors. In addition, image analysis was found to provide a better insight into the morphological characteristics of MDF sanding dust compared to sieve analysis, and could be a promising dust morphology evaluation technology.
Highlights
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is a wood-based panel product made primarily from wood fibers, which are bonded together by synthetic resins under heat and pressure
Morphological characteristics determined by sieve analysis (SA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) The SA showed that the great majority (96%) of the MDF sanding dust particles was smaller than 100 μm (Fig. 2)
The shape analysis showed that the MDF sanding dust samples had a pretty low aspect ratio as a whole, and the mean AR value was 0.32, almost the same as the median value of 0.31 (Table 1), which indicated that the width of at least 50% of the particles was comparable to the length
Summary
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is a wood-based panel product made primarily from wood fibers, which are bonded together by synthetic resins under heat and pressure. Limited studies have been performed on size and shape characteristics of MDF sanding dust. Očkajová et al studied the size distribution of MDF sanding dust by sieve analysis and found that 96.16% of the sample particles were smaller than 100 μm, and that the most common particles were in the range between 32 and 63 μm [17].
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