Mechano-sorptive Deformation of Borate Modified Strand Board for Structural Uses

Abstract

Structural performance of chemically modified oriented strand board (OSB) has drawn great attention from builders, home insurance companies, and panel manufacturers. This study was conducted to provide time-dependent creep and moisture change-induced mechano-sorptive (MS) effect data from borate-treated and randomly formed strand board. The strand boards were lab-fabricated with flakes from southern yellow pine and mixed hardwoods. Commercial liquid phenol-formaldehyde resin was used as the binder. The treatments involved in the study were one level of zinc borate, one level of calcium borate, and two species groups that included separate controls. The load level, equivalent to 25% of the static bending modulus of rupture, was selected as a long-term constant load. Creep at 65% constant relative humidity (RH) developed in a normal time-dependent fashion and the Burger body creep model with four spring-dashpot elements was found appropriate to predict the creep response of borate modified strand board. Noticeable influence of borate modification on the fractional deflection was demonstrated under changing RH for both the absorption and desorption cycles. The measured fractional deflection due to the MS effect followed a linear relationship with moisture content change. The established material constants for various strand boards provided a way to predict the structural performance of treated strand board under varying RH conditions.