COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF IROKO PARTICLE BOARDS PRODUCED WITH TWO DIFFERENT VEGETABLE-BASED BINDERS

The aim of this work was to compare mechanical properties of iroko particle boards produced with two different tannic powders. Two vegetable-based binders were used: African locust bean pod (Parkia Biglobosa (PB)) and bark of India tamarind peel (Pitecllobium Dulce (TD)) to bind the particles of Iroko to produce ecological panels without formaldehyde emission. For this study five binder rate 5%; 7.5%; 10%; 12.5% and 15% were used to make particle board of each binder. Hardness, bending, tensile and internal bound tests were performed in order to assess the mechanical properties (MOE, MOR, E, MOT, IB and HB). The results showed that the mechanical properties increase with binder rate. The mechanical properties of the panels produced from these two different binders met the threshold set by ANSI A208.1 (2009). Moreover, it was found that, the values of MOE, MOR, E, MOT obtained for African locust bean pod (Parkia Biglobosa) where higher than those found for bark of Pitecllobium Dulce On the other side, panels made with bark of Pitecllobium Dulce showed higher HB and IB values than those made with African locust bean pod.