Production of Particle Board from Cotton Stalk
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Date
2018-06
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Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Cotton stalk is a waste by-product of cotton farming and a problem of dispose or burned in open
air in Ethiopia, farmers try to burn immediately, after harvesting to protect parasites such
bollworm, so the stalks contributes to the emission of harmful greenhouse gases which pollute the
environment. In this study, cotton stalk collected and particle board (CSPB) was produced with
adhesives of urea formaldehyde using factors hot pressing time, temperature and varying resin
contents with hydraulic mechanical manually pressing operations. At first the cotton stalk was
analyzed using the ASTM method its morphological structure, proximity and chemical
compositions was determined to compare with hard wood characteristics and has good properties.
Then cotton stalk particle board (CSPB) was produced using 21 cm by 21 cm mould for mat
forming and the ratio of the coarse(1-1.8)mm and fin (2-3.5)mm particle size and ratio was 60:40
wt. % respectively. Effects of operating parameters were tested using universal testing machine
on the physical and mechanical properties. The cotton stalk board was examined, results for
modules of strength (MOR) 11.58 MPa and modules of elasticity in in bending (MOE) 2273 MPa
and internal bond (IB) 0.58 MPa respectively. The physical properties thickness swelling (TS) and
water absorption (WA) were tested using water bath. The average result were TS 69.7, 75.4 %
And WA 122.7, 129.7 wt. % for 2 and 24 hour immersion time. In order to obtain optimal quality
boards compering to standards. The optimal physical and mechanical properties were obtained at
a pressing temperature of 150 °C for 10 min with 11 % resin content of urea formaldehyde at
constant operation pressure 15 MPa and target density of 0.75g/cm
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with hot pressing. CSPB with
urea formaldehyde blend adhesive has comparable mechanical properties to the fabricated board
form hard woods. So, it has potential to serve as alternative row materials for particle board
productions.
Description
Keywords
Particle Board, Cotton Stalk, Production