Possibility of using old corrugated container (OCC) for improvement of surface quality of particleboard

Possibility of using old corrugated container (OCC) in the surface layers of particleboard was investigated in order to improve surface properties of product, decrease adhesive consumption and facilitate the use of lignocellulosic resources. Percentages of OCC, humidity of OCC particles of middle layers, and press time were variables of this study, and the percentage of adhesive in the middle layer, the velocity of press closing, press temperature, density of the board (0.7 g/cm3) and the thickness of the boards (16 mm) were fixed parameters in this study. Results demonstrate that proportion of OCC had the most significant effect on the physical and mechanical properties of particleboards as compared to other factors so that by increasing OCC content from 40 to 60%, bending and shear strength of boards significantly decreased while water absorption and swelling were increased after 2 and 24 hours. Moreover, bending strength and swelling values of boards with 40% OCC were almost equal to those of control samples but their water absorption and swelling was significantly higher than these characteristics in the control samples. However, appearance and surface smoothness obtained was found to be better than those of the control samples.