Investigation of mechanical properties of hybrid medium density fiberboards using coir and sawdust with UF resin

The main motive of this present research was to make useful products from agro-waste. Leftover coir fibers extracted from coconut fruit and sawdust were used for making fiberboard panels. Nine different combinations of hybrid boards were fabricated with Urea Formaldehyde (UF) as bonding agent using compression molding machine. Samples were fabricated by varying the weight% of sawdust and coir fibers, keeping the weight% of resin unchanged. Density, moisture content, mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of the samples were found and reported. Studies showed that optimum mechanical properties and least thermal conductivity were found for the sample that contains 60 wt% of coir fibers, 20 wt% of sawdust and 20 wt% of resin. Moisture content is inversely related to the mechanical strength of fiberboards. Morphological analysis was done to study the fiber-matrix interface. The study concluded that waste coir fibers and sawdust can be used effectively to make medium density fiberboards for domestic applications.