Effects of Manufacturing Parameters on the Properties of Binderless Boards Produced from Corncobs

There are environmental concerns on the use of synthetic binders for the production of particle boards. This has stimulated interest in developing boards which do not require the use of these binders but derive adhesion from the activation of the natural chemical constituents of the materials used in manufacture of the boards. Due to the complex nature of biomass resources, the investigation of the effect of manufacturing parameters is required to understand the self-bonding mechanisms during the bioboard production. This study investigated the effects of the manufacturing parameters (pressure, pressing time, pressing temperature and particle size) on the properties of bioboards produced from milled corncobs without pretreatment. The density of the boards ranged between 565.5 and 827.3 kg/m 3 . The range of values for the Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) of the binderless boards was between 1.05 and 34.10 MPa whilst the highest value of the Modulus of Rupture (MOR) of the boards was 0.856 MPa. The Internal Bonding strength (IB) of the binderless boards from corncobs had a maximum value of 0.047 MPa. From the statistical analysis, the particle size of the milled corncobs was the most significant parameter to the density, MOE, MOR and IB. Further studies on pretreatment of biomass resources and parametric optimization are required to improve the properties of the bioboards.