Wood has been and remains the most sought-after material in construction, decoration, furniture production and an endless list of other uses, highly valued by both manufacturers and users for its unique natural properties. However, this, fortunately, replenishable resource, has one very serious drawback - it is constantly lacking. In addition, depending on the method of application and the quality of the wood, hardly half of the raw material of the workpiece is used. Sawdust, bark, cullings were not so long ago simply thrown away or at best used to keep the fire going.
From rags to riches
The idea to use this truly precious waste was in the air and was embodied in chipboard (chipboard).
This composite material is produced by pressing at high temperature crushed dry waste in the form of chips or wood fibers, fastened together with non-mineral (formaldehyde)resins. Economical, functional and rather strong wood surrogate almost immediately won recognition from builders, furniture makers and tilers. Thanks to modern technologies, the characteristics of chipboard and fibreboard have come close to the best types of wood in a number of indicators, and have long surpassed their parent in terms of mass application.
Sawdust papier-mâché
Without going into the details of production, it makes sense to note a number of points that affect the main indicators of the plates: their strength, moisture resistance, durability, appearance and environmental friendliness. This will help you distinguish between quality and mediocre materials and help you select particle boards that meet your specific needs.
The chipboard structure can include from one to five layers, with the most common three-layer structure of the plate. The middle of the chip cake is made up of larger woody particles. Fillers of smaller fractions form the front and back surface of the sheet, performing protective and decorative functions. If the board has a pronounced layered structure, then it is most likely that it is made on old equipment, where the process of forming a chipboard occurs mechanically, by successively laying a carpet of sawdust of a certain size.
Modern technology, using air sorting of wood filler, allows the transition from coarse particles in the middle to fine particles at the edges of the sheet more smoothly, and the material lookssingle layer.
Strong but dangerous formaldehyde bonds
The connecting element in the creation of chipboard are thermosetting polymeric formaldehydes, which, in fact, provide the possibility of using loose wood waste as a fairly durable building material. Hydrophobic additives and antiseptic additives make it possible to create moisture-resistant particle boards. The higher the concentration of binding components, the stronger, more durable and … more poisonous the material. It is the increase in environmental safety requirements in construction and especially furniture production that forces chipboard manufacturers to use new binders that are less harmful to people, minimizing the level of formaldehyde-based resins.
How to determine the environmental friendliness of chipboard?
The level of environmental friendliness of the material determines the formaldehyde emission class:
- E1 - the mass of formaldehyde in one hundred grams of dry composition should not exceed ten milligrams. These chipboards are considered safe for he alth, which determined their use in the production of children's and kitchen furniture.
- E2 - allows bringing the specific gravity of formaldehyde to thirty milligrams, and the use of chipboard exceeding this value is strictly not allowed. Sometimes individual manufacturers deliberately do not indicate or distort this indicator in the labeling, therefore, when buying boards, you should give preference to trusted suppliers.
Quality of processing the outer surface of chipboard
The final stage in the production of raw boardsare grinding the outer layer and trimming the ends, which form the appearance of the material. The fine-grained structure allows the panels to be coated with a polymer coating, the standard structure allows the sheets to be covered with veneer, and chipboard with a lower filler density is used in construction.
Overall dimensions of chipboard sheet are standardized and have a wide range of products. Chipboard thickness can vary from 8mm to 28mm, length from 1830mm to a very impressive 5680mm, and widths from 1220mm to 2500mm.
Fields of application of chipboard
If we generalize the whole variety of brands and types of chipboard by areas of use, then we can distinguish three main areas:
- Particleboard for general use, the cheapest and most affordable, manufactured using urea-formaldehyde compounds without special additives. These are materials with low performance characteristics used in places protected from external aggressive influences (usually inside dry, heated rooms). Most often used for the production of cabinet, panel furniture and for interior decoration.
- Building chipboards are produced with the addition of phenol-formaldehyde binders to the chips using all kinds of specialized additives that give the material additional properties (increased resistance to moisture, heat, noise, bacteria and even fire). Such improvements make it possible to use chipboard for flooring and creating interior items in rooms with high humidity, which, of course, affectsmaterial cost.
- Specialized chipboards are usually not standardized in terms of internal content, density and sheet sizes, are produced in exclusive batches and may have unique characteristics in accordance with customer requirements.
Slab markings
Based on physical, mechanical and a number of other consumer characteristics, chipboard marking can be of two types:
- The “P-A” brand denotes a material that, according to the initial specifications, must have impeccable properties and characteristics (high strength, moisture resistance, ideal surface roughness, etc.).
- P-B brand panels are not subject to such strict operational requirements, however, these are also high-quality products that are actively used in less severe conditions due to their more affordable price.
Third grade - no marriage
The brand of chipboard is often confused with its grade, but this is not entirely true. The range of chipboard determines the compliance of the material with the accepted specifications and is determined individually for each batch of boards or part of them:
First grade implies an absolutely smooth surface of the outer planes and ends, the absence of cracks, blisters and foreign inclusions. Typically used as a cladding
- Second grade may have certain flaws: slight abrasions, small dents on the ends, small delaminations, swellings and depressions on the surface of the sheet, whichallows their use in furniture production and during auxiliary construction work.
- The third grade is a rejection of business material, may contain serious defects in the form of deep chips, delaminations and thickness discrepancies over the entire area of the plate. However, due to the low price of such panels, they are often used as a one-time formwork for the construction of foundations.
Chipboard coating: just a beautiful suit or a reliable spacesuit?
One of the main characteristics when choosing chipboard is the presence or absence of a coating that externally repeats the texture of natural wood or stone. In the first case, the material is used, as a rule, for finishing and decoration.
- The most common is laminated chipboard (LDSP) coated with a thin paper film impregnated with polymers. As a result of a special processing technology, the paper is securely fastened to the polished panel plane, giving it the desired texture and color, in addition, the physical and mechanical parameters of the material are seriously improved. The protective layer of laminated chipboard has properties similar to heat-resistant plastic, which determined the scope of its application: interior cladding and furniture manufacturing, including places with high humidity (kitchens, bathrooms). This type of coating allows the use of detergents.
- Laminated boards also use plasticizer-treated paper lining, so they look and cost almost the same aslike chipboard, but have lower performance.
- The use of natural veneer as a coating gives the material a sophisticated look, indistinguishable from selected wood species, and for additional protection the surface is usually varnished.
In addition to decorative functions, the presence of a coating improves the consumer properties of chipboard: moisture resistance, wear resistance, strength and protection against temperature extremes.
Does not sink in water and does not burn in fire
Panels of the "P-A" brand have a level of deformation from moisture of 22%, which is not enough when carrying out a number of works. In this case, paraffin or its derivatives are added to the wood filler before the hot pressing phase, and formaldehyde resins based on carbide and phenol serve as a binder. The result is a moisture-resistant chipboard. For floors, countertops and furniture located in the bathroom or kitchen, this material will be an excellent solution.
With high requirements for the heat resistance of the material, boards are used that contain fire retardants based on boron acids, phosphorus or other fire-resistant additives. These types of boards are much less common and belong to specialized chipboard.
QuickDeck chipboard - a new level of coatings
Design ideas do not stand still, creating progressive building materials that exceed the characteristics of their predecessors, and chipboard is no exception. A striking example of this is the cladding of premises with wood-Quick Deck particle boards, which turned the complex and painstaking work of installing flooring and decorative wall panels into a kind of children's constructor, with a guaranteed quality result. These moisture-resistant boards, thanks to the tongue-and-groove elements built into them, as a result of the connection, create a perfectly flat surface, guaranteeing high strength, durability and environmental friendliness even under extremely harsh operating conditions.
Features of the use of tongue and groove joints
High speed and ease of assembly of tongue-and-groove chipboards is provided by the original shape of the groove and ridge located at the ends of the panel. When engaged, they interlock with the adjacent covering element, providing a smooth and tight articulation of the boards to be fastened. Laying this type of flooring can be done effortlessly by just one worker, and the installation procedure itself does not require much experience and special equipment.
The use of water-resistant polymer binders (due to which the material has a greenish tint) in the composition of the boards allows the installation of moisture-resistant tongue-and-groove chipboards in humid environments (cafes, kitchens, balconies) and inside unheated buildings.
Scope of grooved chipboard
Moisture-resistant tongue-and-groove boards have proven themselves in the creation of many building structures:
Floor covering device. Ideal for creating a floating floor (when there is no rigid connection betweenfloor cladding and base), prefabricated dry screed (does not require the use of loose, water-mixed building mixtures)
- Leveling, insulation, soundproofing and strengthening the bearing capacity of walls, independent of the finish.
- Creating load-bearing partitions with excellent performance.
- Thin tongue-and-groove sheets can serve as an alternative to drywall to form a perfectly flat ceiling, allowing you to get the job done faster, as there is no need to putty joints. Boards are an excellent base for any topcoat.
- High density (820 kg / m³), good moisture resistance and strength, combined with relatively low weight, make it possible to use tongue-and-groove chipboard in roofing as an internal thermal insulation.
- Allows you to quickly and efficiently form a removable formwork when pouring the foundation.
