Effects of dipping in palm oil and ethanol followed by heating on dimensional stability of particleboard made from rubberwood and oil palm trunk

Rubberwood is the main raw materials for particleboard industries in Malaysia. Unfortunately, shortage of rubberwood urged the manufacturer to find alternative raw materials in the particleboard production. In this study, rubberwood and oil palm trunk are used to form particleboard followed by oil – dip treatment with heating. The main objective of this study was to determine physical properties of particleboard made from different proportions ratio of RW and OPT and the effects of dip-treatment in palm oil and ethanol on dimensional stability of particleboard. In this study, the particleboard formed were treated with 10%, 50% and 100% palm oil. The physical properties of untreated and treated particleboard such as equilibrium moisture content, moisture excluding efficiency, thickness swelling, and water absorption and solution uptake were tested. The results showed that higher proportion of OPT had better dimensional stability than that with higher proportion of RW. Particleboard did not meet the thickness swelling requirement according to EN 312 (≤17%).

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