Wood was and remains the most demanded material in construction, decoration, furniture production and in an endless list of other applications, highly appreciated by both manufacturers and users for its unique natural properties. However, this fortunately replenished resource has one very serious drawback - it is constantly lacking. Moreover, depending on the method of application and the quality of the wood, hardly half of the starting material is used. Sawdust, bark, culling not so long ago were simply thrown away or, at best, used to maintain fire.
From dirt to Kings
The idea to use this truly precious rubbish was in the air and was embodied in a particleboard.
This composite material is produced by pressing at a high temperature the crushed dry waste in the form of chips or wood fibers, bonded together by non-mineral (formaldehyde) resins. An economical, functional and fairly robust wood substitute almost immediately won recognition among builders, furniture makers and veneers. Thanks to modern technologies, the characteristics of wood-particle and fiber boards in a number of indicators come close to the best wood species, and in terms of mass application they have long surpassed their parent.
Sawdust papier mache
Without going into the intricacies of production, it makes sense to note a number of points that affect the main indicators of the plates: their strength, moisture resistance, durability, appearance and environmental friendliness. This will help to distinguish quality materials from mediocre ones and to select chipboards that meet specific needs.
Particleboard structure can include from one to five layers, with the most common three-layer structure of the plate. The middle of the chip cake consists of larger wood particles. Fillers of smaller fractions form the front and back surfaces of the sheet, performing protective and decorative functions. If the slab has a clearly defined layered structure, then it is most likely that it is made on old equipment, where the process of forming a particleboard is done mechanically by successively laying a carpet of sawdust of a certain size.
Modern technologies, using air sorting of wood filler, allow the transition from large fractions in the middle to small particles at the edges of the sheet more smoothly, and the material looks single-layer.
Strong but dangerous formaldehyde bonds
A connecting element in the creation of particleboard is thermosetting polymer formaldehydes, which, in fact, provide the possibility of using loose wood waste as a fairly durable building material. Hydrophobic additives and antiseptic additives allow the creation of moisture-resistant chipboards. The higher the concentration of binders, the stronger, more durable and ... toxic material. It is increasing requirements for environmental safety in construction and especially furniture production that makes chipboard manufacturers use new binders that are less harmful to people, while minimizing formaldehyde-based resins.
How to determine the environmental friendliness of particleboard?
The level of environmental friendliness of the material determines the class of formaldehyde emission:
- E1 - the mass of formaldehyde in one hundred grams of dry composition should not exceed ten milligrams. These wood chipboards are considered safe for health, which determined their use in the production of children's and kitchen furniture.
- E2 - allows to bring the specific gravity of formaldehyde to thirty milligrams, and the use of chipboards in excess of this value is strictly not allowed. Sometimes individual manufacturers deliberately do not indicate or distort this indicator in the labeling, therefore, when buying plates, it is worth giving preference to trusted suppliers.
Chipboard surface quality
The final step in the production of unfaced boards is the grinding of the outer layer and the trimming of the ends, forming the appearance of the material. The fine-grained structure allows the panels to be coated with a polymer coating, the standard one - to cover the sheets with veneer, and particleboard with a lower filler density are used in construction.
The overall dimensions of the chipboard sheet are standardized and have a wide range of items. The thickness of the particleboard can vary from 8 to 28 mm, the length - from 1830 to a very impressive 5680 mm with a width of 1220 to 2500 mm.
Chipboard Applications
If we summarize the whole variety of brands and types of particleboard by areas of use, we can distinguish three main areas:
- General purpose chipboards, the cheapest and most affordable, manufactured using urea-formaldehyde compounds without special additives. These are low-performance materials used in places protected from external aggressive influences (usually inside dry, heated rooms). Most often used for the production of cabinet, panel furniture and for interior decoration.
- Construction particleboards are made with phenol-formaldehyde binders added to the chips using various specialized additives that give the material additional properties (increased resistance to moisture, heat, noise, bacteria and even fire). Such improvements allow the use of particle boards for floors and the creation of interior items in rooms with high humidity, which, of course, affects the cost of the material.
- Specialized chipboards, as a rule, are not standardized for internal filling, density and size of sheets, are manufactured in exclusive batches and may have unique characteristics in accordance with customer requirements.
Plate marking
Based on physical, mechanical and a number of other consumer characteristics, chipboard marking can be of two types:
- The brand “P-A” denotes a material that, according to the initial technical conditions, must have impeccable properties and characteristics (high strength, moisture resistance, ideal surface roughness, etc.).
- P-B brand panels do not have such strict operational requirements, nevertheless, they are also high-quality products that are actively used in less severe conditions due to their more affordable price.
Third Grade - Not Marriage
The brand of particle board is often confused with its grade, but this is not entirely true. The range of chipboard determines the compliance of the material with the accepted technical conditions and is determined individually for each batch of plates or part of them:
- The first grade implies a completely smooth surface of the outer planes and ends, the absence of cracks, swelling and extraneous inclusions. It is usually used as a cladding.
- The second grade may have certain disadvantages: minor scuffs, small dents on the ends, small delamination, swelling and depressions on the surface of the sheet, which allows their use in furniture production and during auxiliary construction work.
- The third grade is a rejection of business material, it may contain serious defects in the form of deep chips, delamination and thickness mismatch over the entire area of the plate. Nevertheless, due to the low price of such panels, they are often used as a one-time formwork in the construction of foundations.
Particleboard coating: just a beautiful suit or a reliable suit?
One of the main characteristics when choosing a chipboard is the presence or absence of a coating on it, which externally repeats the texture of natural wood or stone. In the first case, the material is used, as a rule, for decoration and decoration.
- The most common laminated particle board (chipboard) coated with a thin paper film impregnated with polymers. As a result of special processing technology, the paper is firmly bonded to the polished plane of the panel, giving it the desired texture and color, in addition, the physical and mechanical parameters of the material are seriously improved. The protective layer of chipboard has properties similar to heat-resistant plastic, which determined the scope of its application: the inner lining of rooms and the manufacture of furniture, including places with high humidity (kitchens, bathrooms). This type of coating allows the use of detergents.
- Lined boards made of paper treated with plasticizers are also used in laminated boards, therefore they look and cost almost the same as chipboard, but they have lower performance characteristics.
- The use of natural veneer as a coating gives the material an elegant look indistinguishable from the selected wood species, and to provide additional protection, the surface is usually varnished.
In addition to decorative functions, the presence of a coating improves the consumer properties of particle board: moisture resistance, wear resistance, strength and protection from temperature extremes.
It does not sink in water and does not burn in fire
Panels of the brand “P-A” have a moisture deformation level of 22%, which is not enough when carrying out a number of works. In this case, paraffin or its derivatives are added to the wood filler before the hot pressing phase, and the binder is formaldehyde resins based on carbide and phenol. The result is a moisture resistant chipboard. For the floor, countertops and furniture located in the bathroom or in the kitchen, such a material would be a great solution.
With high requirements for heat resistance of the material, boards are used, in the composition of which flame retardants based on boric acids, phosphorus or other flame-retardant additives are added. Such types of plates are much less common and are referred to as specialized chipboard.
Chipboard QuickDeck - a new level of coverage
Design thought does not stand still, creating progressive building materials that exceed the characteristics of their predecessors, and chipboard is no exception. A striking example of this is the cladding of rooms with Quick Deck chipboards, which turned the complex and painstaking work of installing flooring and decorative wall panels into a kind of child's designer, with a guaranteed high-quality result. These moisture-resistant boards, thanks to the tongue-and-groove elements integrated in them (spike groove), as a result of the joint create a perfectly smooth surface, guaranteeing high strength, durability and environmental friendliness even in extremely harsh operating conditions.
Features of the use of grooved joints
The high speed and ease of assembly of grooved chipboards is provided by the original shape of the groove and ridge located at the ends of the panel. When engaged, they enter the lock with an adjacent coating element, providing a smooth and tight joint of the fastened plates. Laying a coating of this type without special efforts can be done by only one worker, and the installation procedure itself does not require much experience and special equipment.
The use of binder waterproof polymers in the composition of the plates (due to which the material has a greenish tint) allows you to install moisture-proof sheet pile wood chipboards in a humid environment (cafes, kitchens, balconies) and inside unheated buildings.
Scope of grooved chipboard
Moisture-resistant tongue-and-groove plates have proven themselves in the creation of many building structures:
- Floor covering device. Ideal for creating a floating floor (when there is no rigid connection between the floor cladding and the base), a dry dry screed (does not require the use of loose, water-shut construction mixtures).
- Alignment, warming, soundproofing and strengthening the bearing capacity of the walls, not depending on the finish.
- Creating load-bearing partitions with excellent performance.
- Thin sheet piling can serve as an alternative to drywall in the formation of a perfectly flat ceiling, allowing you to do the job faster, since there is no need for putty joints. Slabs are an excellent base for any finish.
- High density (820 kg / m³), good moisture resistance and strength in combination with a relatively low weight make it possible to use grooved chipboard in the arrangement of the roof, as an internal thermal insulation.
- Allows you to quickly and efficiently form a removable formwork when pouring the foundation.