Properties of medium-density particleboard from saline Athel wood

The Athel tree, Tamarix aphylla (L), can potentially be used as a biomass crop to help manage saline subsurface drainage water in arid land irrigated agriculture. In this study, Athel wood was used to manufacture medium-density particleboard with an aim of developing new applications for the saline wood. The research investigated the effects of different types of adhesives, particle sizes, bark content (BC), resin content (RC), and hot water pretreatment on the mechanical and water resistance properties of the Athel-derived, medium-density particleboards. The measured mechanical properties included tensile strength (TS), modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and internal bond strength (IB) of the finished particleboards. Water absorption and thickness swell were used to evaluate the water resistance. Polymeric methane diphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI) resin made particleboard of better mechanical properties and water resistance than urea formaldehyde (UF). The medium size (20–40 mesh) particles gave the best mechanical properties and water resistance than of the particleboard when evaluated against the smaller size (40–60 mesh) and larger size (10–20 mesh) particles. The mechanical properties of particleboard were improved as the resin content of the UF-board increased from 7 to 16%, but deteriorated as the bark content increased from 0 to 16.2%. The particleboard made from the wood particles that had undergone hot water pretreatment had poor mechanical properties and water resistance compared with the particleboard made from the untreated particles. Saline Athel wood is an appropriate material for manufacturing particleboards.