Improvement on Properties of Medium-Density Fiberboard Manufactured from Nypa Midrib and Its Mixture with Coconut Coir

Nowadays, the potency of comentional fibrous materials (i.e. 111oods)for the manufacture of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) becomes depleted and scarce. Use of alternative fibers which are abundantly available and still largely unutilized, i.e. nypha midribs and coconut coirs, has been a/temped for MD F (medium-densityfiberboard), using urea formaldehyde (UFJ adhesive H oneuer; such study sboued that MD F.from each of the tuofiber sources cozdd not satisjj the JIS and ISO standards. In relevant, improuement trial on MDF properties was accomplishedusing both kinds of fibers. lntially, thosefiber stuffs had their basic properties examined, i.e. specific gravity, chemical composition, and fiber dimensions and their derived values. The MD F's fibrous pulping emplqyed a hot semi-chemical soda process under atmospheric pressure at two alkali concentrations (8% and 12%). The resulting pulps tuere then added withadditives, i.e. 5% alum, 5% tannin-formaldebyd(eIF) adhesive either incorporated with activated charcoal (5%) or not; and then shaped into MDF mat using wet process. Physical-strength properties and 'formaldebyde emission of the resulted MDF were examined Assessing those properties, nypa-midrib fibers mere more prospective for MDF than cotonta-coir fibers. Activated• charcoal addition lowered MD F'sformaldehyde-emission and improved dimensional stability, but decreased its strengths. In properties, MDFs from nypafibers 100% tuere significantly the closest in satisfying the standard OIS and ISO). Yet, coconut-coirfibers could still be prospectivefor MDF by lllixing them (pulpform) 1vith r!JPa-.fiberpulp at theproportion (111/ 111): 25%+75% and 50%+ 50%. The MDF with TF adhesive afforded better properties than the previous experiment (using UFJ, e.g. greater strengths, lowered emission; and satisfying more of theJIS and ISO standard