A Study on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) Made from Corn stalk and Wood fibers

To investigate the possibility of manufacturing medium-density fiberboard using corn stalk fibers، a mixture of corn stalk fibers and wood fibers in four weight levels of 0/100، 15/85، 70/30 and 45/55 and with press time of 5 and 7 minutes were used to manufacture sample boards. The results showed that an increase in amount of Maize Straw fibers leads to a decrease in MOR، MOE and IB levels in test specimens، whereas Thickness Swelling (TS) and Water Absorption (WA) increase after 2 and 24 hours of immersion in water. Furthermore، increasing press time resulted in an improvement of physical and mechanical properties of the specimens. According to statistical analyses، 15% of corn stalk fibers، with 7 minutes of press time، were founded as the optimum treatment in this study.