Extruded Particleboard

   In some cases particleboard is produced via a continuous extrusion process in which the raw material (small wood chips, waste from other lumber refining process etc.) is blended with a resin.  These blended particles are brought directly to an aperture of an extrusion press and then forced through a heated die.  This is done in a continuous process much like a system in the picture below.


Some examples of extruded particleboard.



    The board is then run through a heating zone for approximately 40-60 seconds to finish curing the resin.  The final properties of these extruded particleboards are different from those made in a platen system.  In the platen systems the particles of wood are randomly oriented in a plane that is parallel to the surface of the board.  Tahis yields good bending strength and stiffness.  However in the extruded boards the fibers are oriented randomly in a plane that is perpendicular to the surface.  thus the stiffnes and bending strength is less.  Usually extruded boards are laminated with a veneer, particle board, or plastic layer to overcome those weaknesses.

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