Some technological properties of wood–styrofoam composite panels

Synthetic resins are widely used in wood based composites manufacturing. Besides their many advantages, most of them contain formaldehyde and a chemical agents that cause environmental problems. Styrofoam known as expanded polystyrene, is used all over the world for various purposes including thermal insulation, packing, coffee cups, fabrication of car parts etc. This study investigated the evaluation possibilities of styrofoam wastes in plywood production as a bonding material. Pine (Pinus pinea) and poplar (Populus deltoides I-77/51) veneers were used to produce wood–styrofoam composite (WSC) and traditional plywood. Urea-formaldehyde adhesive was used as bonding material for traditional plywood panels. Two different types of styrofoam having high density (25 kg/m3) and low density (10 kg/m3) were used as binder in the manufacturing of WSC panels. Bonding and bending strength, modulus of elasticity, density and thermal conductivity of plywood and WSC panels were investigated. Experimental results showed that mechanical properties of panels manufactured with low density styrofoam type were higher than those of panels manufactured with high density styrofoam type. The lowest thermal conductivity among the all panels was found for poplar panels manufactured with high density styrofoam.