The potential of using agricultural waste: Corn husk for particleboard raw material

Abstract

The development of manufactured particleboard using non-wood raw materials has been significant due to the decrease of wood as the main raw material for the particleboard industry. In this study, corn husk, an agricultural waste, was used for experimental manufacturing of particleboard bonded with natural and synthetic adhesives. The influence of adhesive types and concentration on the physical and mechanical properties of particleboard were investigated. The synthetic adhesive types used were urea-formaldehyde (UF) and phenol-formaldehyde (PF) with 8,10 and 12 wt% adhesive concentration. The natural adhesive used was citric acid with 15, 20, and 25 wt% adhesive concentration. The target density of particleboard was set at 0.80 g/cm3. The boards were manufactured at a pressing temperature of 130°C for UF, 150°C for PF and 200°C for citric acid, pressing time of 10 minutes, and 2.5 MPa for hot-pressing pressure. Generally, this study confirms that types of adhesive and adhesive concentrations influence the properties of particleboard. Results show that particleboard with citric acid adhesive has better physical and mechanical properties than particleboard bonded with UF and PF adhesives.