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.