The effect of alkali treatment of wheat straw powder on particle board properties made from mixing wheat straw and industrial wood chips

In order to investigating the usage of wheat straw on particleboard, wheat straw powder was treated with 5% hydroxide sodium for 120 minutes; then, untreated and treated wheat straw powder were mixed with industrial wood chips in five levels of 0:100, 30:70, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 10%, and 12% urea formaldehyde resin based on dry weight of raw materials, and 2% ammonium chloride based on dry weight of adhesive to make single layer particleboard. Physical and mechanical properties of produced panels were tested according to EN 326-1 standard. The physical and mechanical properties of panels made from treated wheat straw were significantly better than untreated one, and use of 40% wheat straw powder with alkali treatment ratio to industrial wood chips was shown the best results.