Influence of radiata pine juvenile wood on the physical and mechanical properties of oriented strand boards (OSB)

Abstract

In this work the influence of radiata pine juvenile wood (Pinus radiata D. Don), more specifically the growth ring width and cell wall thickness, on the physical (swelling and linear expansion) and mechanical (internal bond, modulus of rupture, and modulus of elasticity) properties of oriented strand boards (OSB) were analyzed. The wood samples were obtained from 10 trees from a 26-year old, managed plantation in the Eighth Region of Chile. The juvenile wood determination was based on the radial variation of growth ring width measured by image analysis using commercial software. The details of the anatomical structure were similarly determined from microtome samples. The experimental design considered the proportion of juvenile wood (0%, 30%, 70%, and 100%) and the type of cut of the strands (radial and tangential) to be independent variables. The press cycle involved a maximum temperature of 195 °C, a maximum pressure of 40 bars and a press time of 230 seconds. The results show that the proportion of juvenile wood has an impact on the physical and mechanical properties of OSB. The internal bond (0.46 MPa for juvenile wood and 0.70 MPa for mature wood) and the modulus of elasticity (3271 MPa for juvenile wood and 5159 MPa for mature wood) decreased significantly with an increase in the proportion of juvenile wood. The modulus of rupture varied between 29 MPa for juvenile wood and 36 MPa for mature wood but these values were not significantly different. Thickness swell (32% for juvenile wood and 24% for adult wood) was greater than the value specified in the Canadian O437 series-93 standard. However, the linear expansion (0.22% for juvenile wood and 0.17% for mature wood) met the mechanical standard.