International conference on fibre and particleboards bonded with inorganic binders (original) (raw)

1989, International Journal of Cement Composites and Lightweight Concrete

The conference was attended by more than 200 persons, the majority of whom came from the U.S.A. and Canada. Twenty-five participants came from Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany respectively. Representatives of the leading manufacturers of equipment to produce inorganically bonded wood composites atso attended the conference. The keynote address was given by Norman Johnson, Weyerhaeuser Co.. Tacoma, U.S.A., entitled: 'The need for a new direction'. It is a reality that high-performance materials continue to take markets from wood', yet wood will continue to be cost-competitive for many c(:,nstruction uses. There is a need for the U.S. industry to improve the quality of its products made of wood, and at the same time, to develop products that have improved properties by combining wood with other materials, e.g. cement or gypsum. The researcher needs to be familiar with the marketplace in order to increase the probability of products success. The conference had four sessions: State of the art in mineral-bonded boards; Raw material considerations', Industrial manufacturing processes; Product properties, applications and markets. The first session was chaired by M.H. Simatupang. A.A. Moslemi, University of Idaho, briefly reviewed the manufacture and properties of wood-cement panel products. He stated that presently none of the dense wood-cement products is produced in the U.S.A., and argued that eventually this technology would find an application. The contribution of K. Lempfer and H. Sattler from Braunschweig, entitled 'Gypsum-bonded particleboards and fibreboards' stated that gypsum is usually combined with organic or inorganic fibres to improve the ductility of the composites. The semi-dry processes are gradually replacing the up to now commonly used casting processes to form the boards. Material mixtures are no longer a free-flowing mass but are spreadable. Energy costs to dry the panels are reduced. By-product gypsum, such as phospho-and desulpho-gympsum can be used advantageously. The technical properties of the boards made according to the different semi-dry processes depend primarily on the content of reinforcing material and on the density of the boards. These are at least equal to those of conventional gympsum plasterboards. L. Paszner, University of British Columbia, Canada described his new development on magnesium oxyphosphate cement as .a binder for iignoceiluiosic compus [es. Strong bonds develop when ammonium polyph~:':!-;ate is reacted with dead burned oxides. i=ydroxides and/or carbonates of alkaline earth metals. mainly magnesium and calck;m. The reaction is selfinitiating and exothermic. It is unaffected bv wood.