Flax shive and hemp hurd residues as alternative raw material for particleboard production

Abstract

Flax shive and hemp hurd residues were characterized, and the feasibility of manufacturing three-layered particleboards was evaluated using 2.5% and 5% polymeric diphenyl methane diisocyanate resin loadings. The flax shive and hemp hurd residues had lower bulk densities and higher aspect ratios compared with the wood residues. Their higher aspect ratios offered greater overlap in bonding, which led to consistently higher bending properties that exceeded the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requirements for low-density (LD2) particleboard and, in some cases, medium-density (M2) particleboard. Because of their particle geometry, the flax shive and hemp hurd particleboards also showed minimal linear expansion with changes in the moisture content at 20 ± 3 °C and between 50% and 90% relative humidity. The high absorption capacity of the flax shive and hemp hurd residues resulted in higher thickness swell and water absorption properties than the wood residues. The results indicated that low-density flax shive and hemp hurd particleboards (500 to 620 kg/m3) can be manufactured using isocyanate resin quantities as low as 2.5% to produce panels that conform to ANSI specifications with a greater mechanical performance than that of wood residue particleboards.