Fiberboard

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Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and hardboard Fibreboard 07877.jpg
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and hardboard

Fiberboard (American English) or fibreboard (British English) is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers. Types of fiberboard (in order of increasing density) include particle board or low-density fiberboard (LDF), medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and hardboard or high-density fiberboard (HDF).

Contents

It is sometimes used as a synonym for particle board, but particle board usually refers to low-density fiberboard. Plywood is not a type of fiberboard, as it is made of thin sheets of wood, not wood fibers or particles. Fiberboard, particularly medium-density fiberboard, is heavily used in the furniture industry. For pieces that will be visible, a veneer of wood is often glued onto fiberboard to give it the appearance of conventional wood.

In the packaging industry, the term "fiberboard" is often used to describe a tough kraft-based paperboard or corrugated fiberboard for boxes. [1]

"Fiberboard" is also an intermediate product, an output of a pulp mill used as input for a paper mill.

Manufacture

Fiberboard manufacture begins with wood chipping: fresh or recycled wood material is cut and sorted to small pieces of similar size. Chips are washed to remove things such as dirt and sand. Metal scraps such as nails can be removed with a magnet placed over a conveyor belt on which the chips move forward. In the case of, for example, MDF (medium density fiberboard) and not particle board, chips are then steamed to soften them for defibration. Small amount of paraffin wax is added to the steamed chips and they are transformed into fluffy fibers in a defibrator and soon afterwards sprayed with adhesives such as urea-formaldehyde (UF) or Phenol formaldehyde resin (PF). Wax prevents fibers from clumping together during storage. Chips in the case of particle board are also sprayed with a suitable adhesive before the next steps. Fibers or chips are arranged into a uniform "mat" on a conveyor belt. This mat is pre-compressed and then hot-pressed. Hot-pressing activates the adhesive and glues the fibers or chips together. Board is then cooled, trimmed, sanded and maybe veneered or laminated.

UF resins are dominantly used in the MDF industry because of their low cost and fast curing characteristics. However, pressures on the use of UF resins are mounting steadily due to potential problems associated with formaldehyde emission. On the other hand, PF resins are more durable and do not emit formaldehyde after cure. The industry has traditionally shied away from using PF resins due primarily to their higher cost and much slower curing rate than UF resins. However, the press times for PF-bonded fiberboard can be substantially reduced by manipulating the fiber mat temperatures, molecular weight distribution of PF resins and pressing parameters. As a result, the press times for PF-bonded fiberboard can be made comparable to those for UF-bonded fiberboard. Also, the resin content required for PF-bonded fiberboard is less than 5% to achieve a good board quickly. This is considerably lower than that required for UF-bonded fiberboard.

Certain types of fiberboard can be considered "green" building products. Consisting of bio-based, secondary raw materials (wood chip or sugarcane fibers) recovered from within 100 miles (160 km) of manufacturing facilities, the binding agent used in this type of fiberboard is an all-natural product, consisting of vegetable starch containing no added formaldehydes.

Use

Fiberboard, classified by ASTM C208, Standard Specification for Cellulosic Fiber Insulating Board, [2] has many benefits and is used in residential and commercial construction.

Applications include:

Fiberboard is also used in the automotive industry to create free-form shapes such as dashboards, rear parcel shelves, and inner door shells. These pieces are usually covered with a skin, foil, or fabric such as cloth, suede, leather, or polyvinyl chloride.

RSI Direct, a bi-weekly e-newsletter covering the roofing, siding and insulation industries, [3] promotes the use of fiberboard as a coverboard in roof systems:

More than two billion square feet of this product have been installed in the U.S. roofing market. [ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plywood</span> Manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer

Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers, having both glued with each other at right angle or at 90 degrees angle. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include medium-density fibreboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB), and particle board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corrugated fiberboard</span> Composite paper material

Corrugated fiberboard, corrugated cardboard, or corrugated is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugated boxes. The corrugated medium sheet and the linerboard(s) are made of kraft containerboard, a paperboard material usually over 0.25 millimetres (0.01 in) thick.

Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. Both terms are used interchangeably but floor covering refers more to loose-laid materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engineered wood</span> Range of derivative wood products engineered for uniform and predictable structural performance

Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, human-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, or veneers or boards of wood, together with adhesives, or other methods of fixation to form composite material. The panels vary in size but can range upwards of 64 by 8 feet and in the case of cross-laminated timber (CLT) can be of any thickness from a few inches to 16 inches (410 mm) or more. These products are engineered to precise design specifications, which are tested to meet national or international standards and provide uniformity and predictability in their structural performance. Engineered wood products are used in a variety of applications, from home construction to commercial buildings to industrial products. The products can be used for joists and beams that replace steel in many building projects. The term mass timber describes a group of building materials that can replace concrete assemblies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriented strand board</span> Engineered wood particle board

Oriented strand board (OSB) is a type of engineered wood similar to particle board, formed by adding adhesives and then compressing layers of wood strands (flakes) in specific orientations. It was invented by Armin Elmendorf in California in 1963. OSB may have a rough and variegated surface with the individual strips of around 2.5 cm × 15 cm, lying unevenly across each other, and is produced in a variety of types and thicknesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medium-density fibreboard</span> Engineered wood product

Medium-density fibreboard (MDF) is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibre, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming it into panels by applying high temperature and pressure. MDF is generally denser than plywood. It is made up of separated fibre but can be used as a building material similar in application to plywood. It is stronger and denser than particle board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paperboard</span> Thick paper-based material

Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper and has certain superior attributes such as foldability and rigidity. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a grammage above 250 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single- or multi-ply.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamination</span> Technique of fusing layers of material

Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance, or other properties from the use of the differing materials, such as plastic. A laminate is a permanently assembled object created using heat, pressure, welding, or adhesives. Various coating machines, machine presses and calendering equipment are used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masonite</span> Type of hardboard

Masonite is a type of hardboard made of steam-cooked and pressure-molded wood fibers in a process patented by William H. Mason.

Pressed wood, also known as presswood, is any engineered wood building and furniture construction material made from wood veneers, wood shavings and particles, sawdust or wood fibers bonded together with an adhesive under heat and pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baseboard</span> Lowest part of an interior wall

In architecture, a baseboard is usually wooden, MDF or vinyl board covering the lowest part of an interior wall. Its purpose is to cover the joint between the wall surface and the floor. It covers the uneven edge of flooring next to the wall; protects the wall from kicks, abrasion, and furniture; and can serve as a decorative molding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Particle board</span> Pressed and extruded wood product

Particle board, also known as particleboard, chipboard, and low-density fiberboard, is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood chips and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded. Particle board is often confused with oriented strand board, a different type of fiberboard that uses machined wood flakes and offers more strength.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardboard</span> Type of fiberboard (engineered wood product)

Hardboard, also called high-density fiberboard (HDF), is a type of fiberboard, which is an engineered wood product. It is used in furniture and in the construction industry.

Urea-formaldehyde (UF), also known as urea-methanal, so named for its common synthesis pathway and overall structure, is a nontransparent thermosetting resin or polymer. It is produced from urea and formaldehyde. These resins are used in adhesives, plywood, particle board, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), and molded objects. In agriculture, urea-formaldehyde compounds are one of the most commonly used types of slow-release fertilizer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Building insulation material</span>

Building insulation materials are the building materials that form the thermal envelope of a building or otherwise reduce heat transfer.

Deinking is the industrial process of removing printing ink from paperfibers of recycled paper to make deinked pulp.

The wet strength of paper and paperboard is a measure of how well the web of fibers holding the paper together can resist a force of rupture when the paper is wet. Wet strength is routinely expressed as the ratio of wet to dry tensile force at break.

Impregnation resins are slightly viscous, organic liquids that are used in the forest products industry for wood modification. They typically contain formaldehyde and are composed of dimers and trimers of the main molecule. These can become polymer solutions upon curing inside of a wood substrate, imparting stabilizing properties. Impregnation of these resins involves a vacuum chamber procedure that completely disperses the resin into the wood. Once inside of the wood, the resin can diffuse into the cell wall and enhance the physical strength of the wood even further.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millwork</span> Decorative woodmill-produced products for building construction

Millwork is historically any wood mill produced decorative materials used in building construction. Stock profiled and patterned millwork building components fabricated by milling at a planing mill can usually be installed with minimal alteration. Today, millwork may encompass items that are made using alternatives to wood, including synthetics, plastics, and wood-adhesive composites.

Solenis, formerly Ashland Water Technologies, is an American manufacturer of specialty chemicals for the pulp, paper, oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, biorefining, power and municipal markets. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, in the United States, the company operates 71 manufacturing facilities located around the globe in 130 countries and more than 15,000 employees. Its product portfolio includes a variety of process, functional and water treatment chemistries, as well as monitoring and control systems.

References

  1. Soroka, W (2008). Illustrated Glossary of Packaging Terms. Institute of Packaging Professionals. p. 81. ISBN   978-1-930268-27-2.
  2. "C208 Standard Specification for Cellulosic Fiber Insulating Board]". ASTM.
  3. Russo, M. (1 November 2001)."Coverboards enhance roof system performance", RSI Direct.