On the measurement of formaldehyde release from low-emission wood-based panels using the perforator method

In Europe, the perforator method (EN 120) is the mostly used laboratory method of the wood-based panel industry. Usually, the measured perforator value depends on the moisture content of the boards. According to DIBt-100, the measured perforator values are corrected to a common moisture content (MC) of 6.5% using an established equation proposed by Jann and Deppe (1990). The correction factor of Jann and Deppe (1990) is based on the assumption that particle- and fibreboards change their perforator values to the same extent regardless whether increasing or decreasing the moisture content in the range of 3 ≤ u ≤ 9%. Application of this correction factor to particle- and fibreboards of higher moisture content than 6.5% can lead to biased corrected results in favour of low emission. The corrected values can also lead to paradoxical relation between the perforator values and emission in the low-emission region.