Effect of combination oven and microwave heating in the resin semi-curing process on the physical properties of ‘compreg’ OPW

• Main Authors: Ismail, Puteri Nur Khairunnisha, Bakar, Edi Suhaimi, Ahmad, Nurul Azwa, Choo, Adrian Cheng Yong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University 2014
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37212/1/Effect%20of%20combination%20oven%20and%20microwave%20heating%20in%20the%20resin%20semi.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37212/; http://ojs.cnr.ncsu.edu/index.php/BioRes/article/view/BioRes-09_3_4899_Ismail_Combination_Oven_Microwave

Oil palm wood (OPW) is still difficult to utilize efficiently due to its low strength, non-durability, low dimensional stability, and poor machinability. This study was conducted to investigate semi-curing of OPW with low-molecular weight phenol formaldehyde (Lmw-PF) by a combination of oven and microwave heating. Four main processes in a modified compreg method were used, i.e. drying, impregnation, resin semi-curing heating, and hot-pressing densification. Heating type had a significant effect on the physical properties of treated OPW. The combination of the heating methods used a much shorter time compared to heating by oven only, where over 24 to 30 h were needed to dry the treated OPW.