Pressed wood
Template:Short description Pressed wood, also known as presswood, is any engineered wood building and furniture construction material made from wood shavings and particles, sawdust or wood fibers bonded together with an adhesive under heat and pressure.<ref name="epa">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This makes it different from densified wood, which is solid wood that has been compressed to increase its strength and possibly modify other properties.
Pressed wood can also contains strips of wood veneers. Panels that are laminated from sheets of veneer are usually known as plywood.
Manufacturing process
Preparations of the veneers
The creation of pressed wood begins with the veneers<ref name=":1">PRESSBOARD AND PRESSED WOOD. Pressboard and pressed wood. (n.d.). https://carolinacabinetwarehouse.com/free-design-&-more/glossary/pressboard-and-pressed-wood#:~:text=The%20major%20difference%20between%20these,which%20are%20thin%20wood%20sheets.</ref> being placed in a rotary dryer.<ref name=":0">AXA XL Risk Consulting. (2020). PRESSBOARD MANUFACTURING. Hartford, Connecticut .</ref> This dryer is typically heated with steam at around Template:Cvt. This process prepares the veneers for the humidifying process in which the veneers are then placed into humidification chambers. These humidification chambers have a precise moisture content.<ref name=":0" />
Applying adhesive to the veneers
After the veneers have been prepared, resin adhesive is applied to the top of the veneer and then rolled for equal distribution on top of the veneer.<ref name=":0" /> Next, another veneer with a perpendicular grain pattern is applied on top. This process is then repeated until the desired thickness of the board is met.<ref name=":0" />
Pressing
Once the board is at its desired thickness, the board is placed into a press, where the board is pressed and heated. This process gives pressed wood its strength<ref name=":1" /> advantage over other engineered wood types.<ref name=":0" />
The boards are placed in a press where the press will press down on the boards with roughly Template:Convert of pressure.<ref name=":0" /> At the same time, the boards will also be heated up to Template:Cvt—this heat and pressure cause the adhesive to cure, forming the finished board.<ref name=":0" />
Applications of pressed wood
Construction
Presswood is very commonly used in the construction of houses and other buildings. Because of pressed wood's high strength and versatility, it works very well for structural constructions.<ref name=":1" />
Pallets
Pressed wood is a very common material used to make wooden pallets.<ref name=":2">How are Presswood pallets made ?. My Pallets Online. (n.d.). https://www.mypalletsonline.com/gb/blog/how-are-presswood-pallets-made--n11</ref> This is because of how cheap pressed wood can be and how pallets can easily be constructed out of pressed wood.<ref name=":2" />
Furniture
Because of pressed wood's strength and versatility, it works very well for structural parts of furniture.<ref name=":1" />
See also
- Fiberboard
- Glued laminated timber
- Hardboard
- Haskelite
- Laminated veneer lumber
- Masonite
- Medium-density fiberboard
- Oriented strand board
- Particle board
- Plywood
References
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