Evaluation in Physiomechanical Characteristics of Carbonized Oriented Strand Board by Different Carbonizing Conditions

Environmental issues about indoor air quality have been increased and focused on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) caused cancer, asthma, and skin disease. Reducing VOCs has been attempted in many different methods such as using environmentally friendly materials and air cleaner or purifier. Charcoal is well known material for absorbing VOCs. Therefore, carbonized board from medium density fiberboard has been developed. We assumed that the source of carbonized boards can be any type of wood-based panels. In this study, carbonized boards were manufactured from oriented strand board (OSB) at 400, 600, 800, and $1000^{\circ}C$. Each carbonized OSB (c-OSB) was evaluated and determined physiomechanical characteristics such as exterior defects, dimensional shrinkage, modulus of elasticity, and bending strength. No external defects were observed on c-OSBs at all carbonizing conditions. As carbonizing temperature increased, less porosity between carbonized wood fibers was observed by SEM analysis. The higher rate of dimensional shrinkage was observed on c-OSB at $1000^{\circ}C$ (66%) than c-OSB at 400, 600, and $800^{\circ}C$ (47%, 58%, and 63%, respectively). The densities of c-OSBs were lower than original OSB, but there was no significant different among the c-OSBs. The bending strength of c-OSB increased 1.58 MPa (c-OSB at $400^{\circ}C$) to 8.03 MPa (c-OSB at $1000^{\circ}C$) as carbonization temperature increased. Carbonization temperature above $800^{\circ}C$ yielded higher bonding strength than that of gypsum board (4.6 MPa). In conclusion, c-OSB may be used in sealing and wall for decorating purpose without additional artwork compare to c-MDF which has smooth surface.