A study of sawdust-produced fiberboards using lac as binder for furniture industry

Abstract

There has been an extensive use of fiberboards in the furniture industry. Therefore, materials containing glue are applied to develop these fiberboards. This research investigated sawdust-produced fiberboards using lac as the binder and aimed to; (1) study the appropriate mixture proportions of sawdust and lac as the binder and; (2) explore the physical and mechanical properties of different mixture proportions of sawdust and lac at 5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt% and 40 wt%. The research methods involved selecting sizes of dried sawdust and grinding with lac and alcohol. Then the mixture was pressed in a hot-pressing machine. After that, the produced fiberboards were tested using medium-density fibreboards Thai Industrial Standard (TIS 966-2547) in a laboratory. The results showed that the appropriate proportions was 15 wt% which met the standard defined in Thai Industrial Standard (TIS 966-2547). The fiberboards could replace medium-density plywood and could be used in furniture and the home decorative product industry.