A Study on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) Made from Corn stalk and Wood fibers

To investigate the possibility of manufacturing medium-density fiberboard using corn stalk fibers, a mixture of corn stalk fibers and wood fibers in four weight levels of 0/100, 15/85, 70/30 and 45/55 and with press time of 5 and 7 minutes were used to manufacture sample boards. The results showed that an increase in amount of Maize Straw fibers leads to a decrease in MOR, MOE and IB levels in test specimens, whereas Thickness Swelling (TS) and Water Absorption (WA) increase after 2 and 24 hours of immersion in water. Furthermore, increasing press time resulted in an improvement of physical and mechanical properties of the specimens. According to statistical analyses, 15% of corn stalk fibers, with 7 minutes of press time, were founded as the optimum treatment in this study.