Novel lignocellulosic hybrid particleboard composites made from rice straws and coir fibers

• Coir fibers were used as mixture materials for production of straw particleboard.
• Alkali treatment was an effective method for improving wettability of rice straw.
• The MOR and MOE of RC particleboards decreased with coir fibers content increased.
• The addition of coir fibers significantly improved the IB and TS of RC boards.
• PF-bonded boards with optimal R/C ratio can be used for load-bearing application.

Novel lignocellulosic hybrid particleboard composites with low cost and high performance using the mixture of rice straws and coir fibers were developed in this work. NaOH (sodium hydroxide) aqueous solution was used to remove the wax and silica layer of rice straw surface. The effects of rice straws/coir fibers (R/C) mass ratios on the physical (thickness swelling) and mechanical (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and internal bond strength) properties of particleboard composites were investigated. The results show that NaOH treatment was an effective method for improving wettability of rice straw surface with smaller contact angles and larger diffusivity–permeability constant. The SEM (scanning electron microscope) observation also gave some evidences such as more rough surface and less number of silica cells after NaOH treatment for improving wettability of rice straw surface. The coir fibers content had a significant negative linear effect on the bending properties and thickness swelling, but a significant positive linear effect on the internal bonding strength due to the lower wax and holocellulose content of coir fiber. When no diisocyanate resin applied, the particleboard composites made with only phenol formaldehyde resin at the optimal R/C ratio satisfied the requirements for load-bearing boards used in dry conditions based on Chinese Standard, indicated that the mixture of rice straws and coir fibers to make high quality particleboard composites was a cost-effective and environment friendly approach.