Characterization, properties and degradation of hot-pressed fabricated rattan waste binderless board

Abstract

Declining of wood sources, increasing growth of awareness on green-environmental products and consuming high cost of synthetic resin had led to the production progress of binderless boards as an alternative solution to the current production of particleboards. Additionally, huge volume of waste materials due to open-burning attitude and extended time in landfill area had resulted in health concern and waste management issues. Particleboards are exposed to the discrepancy environments that trigger the occurrence of surface degradation during and after service life of the fabricated boards. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the properties and to identify degradation mechanism transpired onto the fabricated rattan waste binderless boards (RWBB) made via hot-pressing process. These fabricated RWBB had undergone physical, mechanical and chemical testing where the optimum parameters were customized to produce RWBB panels for surface degradation tests. The panels were exposed to room temperature condition, natural weathering and soil burial environments for six months for the evaluation of physical, chemical and thermal properties with the morphological analysis to identify the mechanisms of surface degradation of the panels. The optimum pressing parameters for hot-pressing process of RWBB were temperature of 180°C, time of 5 minutes and particle size of 50 μm. This resulted in Modulus of Rupture (MOR) of 28.5 MPa, Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) of 1.7 GPa, internal bonding (IB) of 0.26 MPa, thickness swelling (TS) of 19.6% and water absorption (WA) of 47.6%. A verified morphological analysis through chemical reaction and lignin plasticization inside rattan waste along with strong physical consolidation among fibers were the main features of self-bonding mechanism of RWBB, proven through FTIR analysis. Nevertheless, there were insignificant changes onto the RWBB panels under room temperature condition even after six months. Natural weathering caused severe decomposition and fully disintegration of these panels within four months while more than 65.6% of the panels destroyed under soil burial environment. Moisture absorption and microorganism attacks were the core reasons that quickened the surface degradation mechanism of the panels. The fabricated RWBB are recommended as interior furniture application during their service-life up to 7 years and are required to be exposed under dry and wet conditions to accelerate the surface degradation process after their service life to degrade within six months. Additionally, the conversion of rattan waste material into green-environment boards with less time-span in landfill area had assisted in solving the sustainability issues.