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Plywood, blockboard, core board, finger-jointed board, glued laminated timber, Malacca board... There are so many peripheral products made from various types of wood these days, are you feeling a little overwhelmed?
Okay, let's do a thorough review this time.
Both engineered wood panels and engineered wood products are made from wood or plant fiber materials. These are mechanically processed into various shapes and then glued and pressed together to form boards. Given the current sluggish market for raw timber and engineered wood panels, it's worthwhile to study these products to explore the future trends and opportunities in the timber industry.
A) MDF, also known as fiberboard.
Wood or fiber is crushed in water, then urea-formaldehyde resin is added and pressed into shape.
Further divided into:
High-density fiberboard (HDF) is used for wall panels and flooring.
Medium density fiberboard, also known as MDF.
(medium density fiberboard), used in furniture and cabinets;
Low-density fiberboard, used for decorative strips.
Advantages: Dimensionally stable, good processing performance, easy to produce various sizes and specifications, easy to paint, and can be covered with a variety of surface materials and decorative materials.
Disadvantages: It deforms and swells when exposed to moisture, has poor nail-holding power, and uses a lot of glue, making it environmentally unfriendly.
B) Particle board, also called chipboard, microfiber board, bagasse board
Wood or fiber is broken down and then bonded together under pressure and heat.
Advantages: Good moisture resistance, good nail holding power, good heat insulation and sound absorption, and requires less glue.
Disadvantages: The internal particle structure makes it difficult to mill, and the cutting board is prone to chipping. Inferior particleboard has a high formaldehyde content.
variant:
Straw-based board: Made from straw instead of wood. Its main advantage is the use of MDI glue (isocyanate glue) without the addition of formaldehyde.
IKEA furniture often uses particleboard.
C) OSB (Oriented Strand Board), also known as oriented strand board.
Although it is also called "particleboard", its process is different from that of particleboard in B) above. It is made by hot-pressing layers of wood fibers horizontally and vertically.
Advantages: Its structure results in superior nail-holding power, and it uses environmentally friendly adhesives.
Disadvantages: It is relatively difficult to process and not easy to decorate the surface, so it is often used in construction rather than interior decoration or furniture in foreign countries.
variant:
"OSB" is actually a trademark. It was registered by Beijing New Building Materials Group in 2001 after they introduced OSB boards. It has since been widely used to refer to OSB. Strictly speaking, "OSB" must be imported OSB and then distributed by Beijing New Building Materials Group.
"Australian pine board" originally referred to "pine fiberboard imported from Australia," but unscrupulous merchants soon began to call domestically produced fiberboard "Australian pine board" as well.
"Waffle board," also known as large-format particleboard, is made by pressing thinner and larger wood chips together. The main difference between it and OSB is that the chips on the board are more square and arranged more randomly. Currently, this material has been almost completely replaced by OSB.
"Aspenite"-some people think this word is the English word for oriented strand board, but in fact, it is a trademark registered by McMillan, the predecessor of Weahold, for "Waffle Board," the predecessor of OSB. Now "Waffle Board" has basically ceased production, but the word has been retained.
D) Plywood , this broad category (or encompassing) includes: plywood, core board, three-ply, five-ply. The manufacturing process involves slicing or rotary cutting wood into veneers, then gluing together an odd number of layers with adhesive. Thicknesses include 3, 5, 9, 12, 18 cm, etc. (e.g., 5cm board is also called 5mm board); the number of layers includes 3, 5, 7, etc.
Advantages: Very high strength, good bending resistance
Disadvantages: High glue content, making edge sealing difficult.
variant:
"Marine plywood," also known as marine plywood, uses WBP adhesive, which is permanently waterproof, boil-resistant, and weather-resistant. It also has a high density and is used in the construction of ships or aerospace materials.
"Construction formwork" needs no explanation.
"Covered board" refers to a type of concrete formwork with a film covering.
Small question: When building a timber house, which is better, plywood or OSB?
The answer is as follows: Currently, about two-thirds of the North American home building market uses OSB. OSB and plywood are used similarly in home building, but OSB is cheaper, about 7% cheaper, while plywood is about 7% stronger. Plywood is more permeable to water and air, while OSB is relatively more prone to absorbing moisture (meaning it is relatively more likely to warp). OSB has a more consistent overall quality.
E) Blockboard: also called plywood, core board, or plywood (block board).
The process involves heat-treating timber into strips, splicing them together to form a core, covering both sides with attractive veneers, and then pressing them together using hot and cold presses.
Used for furniture, doors and windows, partitions, and false walls.
Advantages: Overall, it is more stable than solid wood boards, simpler to process, lower in cost, and has higher strength.
Disadvantages: It is somewhat susceptible to moisture, so avoid using it in kitchens and bathrooms. Depending on the core material, there are different disadvantages. For example, poplar and birch have strong nail-holding power and are not easily deformed, while paulownia is lighter and softer and has poor nail-holding power; pine is very hard but is not easy to press and splice.
Variant:
Falcata plywood is a type of plywood with a core made of solid wood native to Malacca, Southeast Asia. Its advantages include high plasticity and resistance to warping. However, some inferior falcata plywood produced in China by JS (a Chinese manufacturing company) may exhibit problems such as unstable moisture content and significant color variations.
F) Decorative panels, with various treatments applied to the substrate surface to meet different needs.
Further divided into:
Melamine board (yes, the infamous "milk powder additive") is made by soaking various textured papers in melamine adhesive and then pressing them onto particleboard or MDF surfaces. Its characteristics include a high melting point and moisture resistance. After the milk powder scandal, this product was renamed under various other names such as: eco-board, melamine-faced board, double-sided decorative board, and melamine board.
Moisture-proof board
Granular moisture-proof particles are added during the manufacturing process of melamine substrate. While these particles offer some protection against moisture in the air, the melamine will still swell and deform if covered or soaked in moisture for an extended period.
Fireproof board
It has an added layer of wear-resistant and heat-resistant material compared to melamine boards.
Decorative panel
A thin layer of solid wood veneer, about 0.2mm thick (approximately the thickness of two or three sheets of A4 paper), is glued to the surface of the plywood. The advantages are a stable substrate and environmental friendliness; the disadvantage is that the varnish applied will discolor and yellow over time.
Vacuum forming board
MDF surface vacuum forming or PVC lamination. Advantages include flame retardancy, heat resistance, moisture resistance, and water resistance; disadvantages include the near irreparable damage from accidental burns from cigarette butts.
G) Finger-jointed boards and straight-jointed boards
Finger-jointed boards are made by removing defects from the wood, vertically opening and gluing the fingers together, and then horizontally splicing them using a splicing machine. This process enhances the strength and appearance of the wood. Since no plywood is needed on the top or bottom, very little glue is used, making it more environmentally friendly. It is essentially a solid wood board with a natural grain. It is increasingly being used to replace plywood.
Common thicknesses are 12mm, 14mm, 16mm, 20mm, and even up to 36mm.
Finger-jointed boards can be divided into two types: with joints and without joints. In the Japanese market, finger-jointed boards without joints are called "freeboard," meaning knot-free.
Common sizes are 25/30mm x 500/600mm x 4200mm. It is a standardized product widely used in home decoration, furniture, cabinets, stair treads, etc.
Good news: Since the internal materials cannot be concealed, it will be less easy for JS (property dealers) to fake it.
Finger-jointed boards are becoming increasingly popular due to their environmental friendliness, natural properties, stability, and durability, and are expected to become even more popular in the future.
variant:
Straight splicing board
If the available knot-free timber is long enough, the product can be made "only horizontally spliced, not finger-jointed," which is called a straight-spliced board. Straight-spliced boards have no color difference along their length and are more aesthetically pleasing than finger-jointed boards (but are slightly weaker). Because the raw materials are relatively difficult to obtain, the cost is also higher.
The above are engineered wood products mainly used for interior decoration and furniture. Next week, we will continue to introduce engineered wood products mainly used in construction projects. Stay tuned!