Impregnation of oil palm trunk lumber (optl) using therm.oset resins for structural applications

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Date
2010
Authors
Che Ku Alam, Che Ku Abdullah
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Abstract
The 25 years old oil palm trunks were taken and kiln dried to achieve required moisture content. The properties of kiln dried oil palm trunk (OPT) impregnated with phenol formaldehyde (PF) and urea formaldehyde (UF) was studied for structural application. Impregnation technique of OPT with resins (PF and UF) were prepared at different times (15 min, 30 min and 45 min) and different resin loadings (25%, 50% and 75%). The physical, mechanical, thermal and biological properties of impregnated oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL) were studied and compared with dried OPT and rubberwood. The thermal properties were determined through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the ultra structure and location of PF and UF resin in OPTL. In general, the flexural, tensile, impact and compression properties of OPTL were higher than dried OPT (control). The moisture content, density, water absorption and thickness swelling of OPTL were lower as compared to dried OPT and rubberwood. OPTL with PF resin showed higher physical, mechanical, thermal and biological properties as compared to OPTL with UF resin. Rubberwood properties still exhibited the highest mechanical properties than OPTL. Thermal properties of the OPTL with 75% resin loading showed higher thermal stability as compared to other different resin loadings of OPTL (25% and 50%), dried OPT and rubberwood. The biological exposure on both OPTL with PF and UF resin showed high resistance against termite and wood borer. As SEM showed with comparison between PF and UF impregnation, PF resin loading in the OPTL proved higher penetration as it was more embedded with more complete fiber-matrix bonding.
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Keywords
Oil palm trunk , Thermoset resins
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