The effect of press temperature on properties of medium density fiberboard produced from Eucalyptus camaldulensis fibers

The target of this study was to investigate the possibility of MDF productionfrom Eucalyptus camaldulensis wood. MDF fibers were produced applying threelevels of steaming time. Laboratory MDF boards were produced using thegenerated fibers and different pressing temperature and time. Physical andmechanical properties of MDF panels were measured using relevant EU testmethods and were statistically analyzed based on factorial experiment. The resultsindicated that at longer steaming time, MOR of boards was reduced and the lowestvalue (16.2 MPa.) were measured on boards produced from fibers generatedapplying 15 min steaming time. The press temperature imposed statisticallysignificant effect on MOR, and increasing press temperature, increased MOR.Higher steaming time reduced the IB of boards as well as the thickness swellingand increasing steaming time from 7.5 to 15 min, decreased IB from 0.787 to 0.533MPa. The results of this study indicated that, the MOR and MOE of boardsproduced from Eucalyptus camaldulensis fibers meet the requirements of Irannational standard values and the internal bonding and thickness swelling ofboards are higher than the requirements.