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Introduction Medium Density Fibreboard
Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) is a wood based composite material that
draws on the usage of wood fibres, rather than particles or veneers to produce
board or sheet products. It is typically made as a board type product, though
it's use in mouldings and increasing use as a structural product will see
beam type products proliferate. It is replacing the use of particleboard
in uses such as furniture manufacture, cabinet making, joinery, craft work
and flooring. Its advantages include high strengths (MOR of 80 MPa and MOE
of 3000 MPa), ease of machining, good weathering properties, and the ability
to be made from a wide variety of fibrous products (An Environmental plus).
(Picture source unknown)
Medium Density Fibreboard gets it's name from it's historical place in
the production of fibreboards. Manufactured
using a dry blowline process to a density of 750 kg/cum, this was originally
heavier than existing low density boards such as caneite, and lighter than
high density boards such as masonite. Nowadays the same MDF manufacturing
proccess is used to produce light boards of 600 kg/cum, and tough high density
moisture resistant boards (such as HD3) with densities of 1200 kg/cum.
(Original picture source unknown)
References
- ASTM, 1992
- ASTM (1992). Annual Book of ASTM Standards. American Society
for Testing and Materials. Volume 4.09 Wood.
- Boehme, 1992
- Boehme, C. (1992). Significance of the density profile for MDF. Holz
als Roh und Werkstoff., 50:18-24.
- Dube, 1995
- Dube, H; Kehr, E. M. (1995). Use of waste paper in MDF manufacture
- influence of the proportion of waste paper. Holz-als-Roh-und-Werkstoff.,
53:1,20.
- Ernst, 1967
- Ernst, K. (1967). Moglichkeiten zur verminderung der quelllung bei
spanplatten. Holztechnologie, 8:41-47.
- Evans, 1994
- Evans, P. (1994). Course Notes for FSTY 4151. ANU.
- Flinn and Trojan, 1990
- Flinn and Trojan (1990). Engineering Materials and their Application.
Houghton Mifflin Company, second edition.
- Greubel, 1987
- Greubel, D ; Drewes, H. M. (1987). Determination of sorption
isotherms in wood-based materials at various temperatures using a new measurement
method. Holz-als-Roh-und-Werkstoff., 7:289-295.
- Hashim et al., 1994
- Hashim, Murphy, Dickinson, and Dinwoodie (1994). The mechanical properties
of boards treated with vapor boron. Forest-Products-Journal.,
44:73-79.
- Hsu et al., 1989
- Hsu, W. E., Schwald, W., and Shields, J. A. (1989). Chemical
and physical changes required for producing dimensional stable wood-based
composites. Wood Science Technology., 23:281-289.
- Liiri, 1960
- Liiri, O. (1960). Investigations into the effects of moisture and wax
on the properties of wood particleboard. State Institute for Technical
Research. Helsinki, Finland.
- McNatt, 1974
- McNatt, J. (1974). Effects of equilibrium moisture content changes
on hardboard properties. Forest Prod. J., 24(2):29-35.
- Minato, 1993
- Minato, K. (1993). Moisture adsorption characteristics of medium-density
fiberboard and its raw wood fiber treated with formaldehyde. Mokuzai
Gakkaishi = Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society., 39:1162-1168.
- Minato and Seto, 1995
- Minato, K. and Seto, Y. M. (1995). Formaldehyde treatment of medium-density
fiberboard in the low temperature range I. Reaction kinetic aspects. Mokuzai
Gakkaishi = Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society., 41:318-323.
- Minato et al., 1993
- Minato, K ; Yusuf, S. M., Imamura, Y., and Takahashi, M.
(1993). Hygroscopic vibrational and biodeterioration characteristics of
medium-density fiberboard treated with formaldehyde. Mokuzai Gakkaishi
= Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society., 39:190-197.
- Myers, 1983
- Myers, G. C. (1983). Relationship of fiber preparation and characteristics
to performance of medium-density hardboards. Forest-Products-Journal.,
10:43-51.
- Okamoto et al., 1994
- Okamoto, H., Sano, S., Kawai, S., Okamoto, T., and Sasaki, H. (1994).
Production of dimensionally stable medium density fiberboard by use of
high-pressure steam pressing. Mokuzai Gakkaishi = Journal of the Japan
Wood Research Society., 40:380-389.
- Orman, 1965
- Orman, R. (1965). The response of New Zealand Timbers to fluctuations
in atmospheric moisture conditions. Forest Research Institute of NZ,
8.
- Park, 1993
- Park, J; Seo, S. (1993). Performances improvement of medium density
fiberboard by combining with various nonwood materials. Research Reports
of the Forestry Research Institute Seoul., 47:35-48.
- Pascua-Srianna, 1994
- Pascua-Srianna, F. (1994). The Structual role of extractives...
PhD thesis, A.N.U. pp143-8.
- Pizzi, 1994
- Pizzi, A. (1994). Advanced Wood Adhesives Technology. Marcel
Dekker, Inc.
- Rijsdijk, 1994
- Rijsdijk, J F; Laming, P. B. (1994). Physical and Related
Properties of 145 Timbers. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
- Seborg et al., 1953
- Seborg, R. M., Tarkow, H., and Stamm, A. J. (1953). Effect
of Heat Upon the dimensional stabilization of wood. Journal of F.P.R.S,
9:59-67.
- Spalt, 1977
- Spalt, H. (1977). Chemical changes in wood associated with fibreboard
manufacture. Wood Technology, 43:193-219.
- Stamm, 1964
- Stamm, A. J. (1964). Wood and Cellulose Science. The
Roland Press Company.
- Suematsu, 1980
- Suematsu, A ; Hirai, N. (1980). Properties of hot pressed wood.
Mokuzai Gakkaishi = Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society.,
26:581-586.
- Suzuki, 1988
- Suzuki, S; Saito, F. (1988). Fatigue properties of particleboards
I. Effects of aging treatment on tensile properties parallel to the surface.
Mokuzai Gakkaishi = Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society.,
34:590-596.
- Suzuki et al., 1987
- Suzuki, S., Piao, C. X., and Saito, F. M. (1987). Study on
the evaluation of internal bond properties of MDF. Bulletin of the
Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University., 37:55-66.
- Tiemann, 1906
- Tiemann, H. (1906). Effect of moisture upon the strength and stiffness
of wood. USDA for Serv Bull.
- Voevodin, 1986
- Voevodin, V. M. M. (1986). Use of fibreboards for exterior wall
cladding. Derevoobrabatyvayushchaya-Promyshlennost, 2:8-10.
- Walker, 1993
- Walker, J. C. F. (1993). Primary Wood Proccessing Principles
and Practice. Chapman and Hall.
- Wang, 1991
- Wang, T. Y. (1991). A preliminary study on the MDF made from bamboos.
Wood Industry Beijing., 5:1, 6-10.
- Watkinson, 1990
- Watkinson, PJ; van Gosliga, N. (1990). Effect of humidity on physical
and mechanical properties of New Zealand wood composites. Forest-Products-Journal.,
40:7-8 15-20.
- Xu and Suchsland, 1991
- Xu, H. and Suchsland, O. M. (1991). The expansion potential: a
new evaluator of the expansion behavior of wood composites. Forest-Products-Journal.
Michigan State University, 41:39-42.
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Last Update: 5 May 1999
This web site on Medium Density Fibreboard was written by Mr Don Mc Callum,
a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) student at the Australian National University.
It was completed as the major assignment for the Forest Products Technology
unit at the Department of Forestry,ANU. Don has moved on to a career in
the Australian metals industry, but if you would like to contact him about
his research, try donaldmccallum@yahoo.com.
For comment and feedback on this site, contact Peter.Beutel@anu.edu.au
URL http://online.anu.edu.au/Forestry/wood/mdf/intro.html