LAUSR

The effects of resin content and nano-si- lane (NS) compounds on oriented strand lumber (OSL), an important engineered wood product, were studied here. OSL panels were produced using two different urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin contents of 8% and 10%, based on the dry weight of the wood strips; two NS contents were applied based on the UF resin content. Our results show that treatments with the two different resin contents produce very similar values for modulus of rup- ture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), impact bending (IB), and tensile strength (TS). This revealed that the high com- pactness of strips in the OSL matrix was the predominant factor determining the overall mechanical properties of the com- posite panels. The interaction between NS and UF-resin significantly reduced these properties with most treatments at 10% NS, while 20% NS was enough   to contribute actively to the process of binding the strips together and compen- sated for part of the loss. Cluster analysis indicated that the mechanical properties were generally dependent on the com- pactness of the composite matrix rather than on the resin content. Based on these findings, the study concluded that NS is not to be recommended to the industry because of its negative effects on most physical and mechanical properties in OSL panels.