Arundo donax chipboard based on urea-formaldehyde resin using under 4 mm particles size meets the standard criteria for indoor use

Common reed (Arundo donax) is a fast growing perennial plant, considered in many countries as a weed or invasive plant. New material developments in recent years have led to common cane proliferation and an invasion in crops and water channels, significantly increasing elimination and control costs. In this study, it is proposed that particleboard be manufactured of common reed (A. donax). The objective is twofold. On the one hand it allows control of a weed, and secondly, it helps reduce the high dependence of imported wood timber and boards by using a readily and annually renewable resource.The fibers of common reed A. donax, possess high tensile strength (200 N/mm2 between knots), providing much higher values than wood. This fact together with an important moisture and aging resistance, encourage us to propose it as a suitable raw material for the production of particleboards. In this study we propose the manufacture of particle board with urea formaldehyde resin, which is currently used in the wood chipboard industry.To perform this study, A. donax fibers obtained from a shredding hammer, were classified attending to size and slenderness. Following the standard industrial chipboard manufacturing processes, boards were developed to compare their behaviour against wood chipboards. Fifteen test-tube batches with different proportions of pre-selected fibers were manufactured. New boards were subjected to a mechanical stress test, and other physical properties were also measured. UNE EN—specific wood chipboard regulations were applied.Results showed that particleboard could be manufactured using A. donax adjusting the particle size to a maximum of 4 mm sieves. Finally it can be stated that making common reed panels also involves the reuse of a plant actually considered a weed, to become a raw material for industrial applications, leaving a door open to future development and research areas.

► It is proposed to build particleboard made of common reed (Arundo donax).
► It was performed the analysis of its properties compared to wood chipboard.
► Boards’ performance (strength and elasticity) increased as particles size decreases.
► Slenderness values obtained were consistent to wood chipboards.
► Common reed particleboard could be manufactured setting sieves to a maximum of 4 mm.