Properties of particleboard made from Salacca (Salacca sp) frond

Salacca frond is a potential agricultural waste material that is not fully utilized yet. This study aimed to investigate the properties of particleboard made from salacca frond. The single-layer and three-layer particleboards were manufactured at three kinds of particle size. The particle size of the core layer was passed through a 10 mesh screen and retained on a 20 mesh screen (-10 +20 mesh). Two different particle sizes of face layer were passed through a 20 mesh screen and retained on a 40 mesh screen (-20 +40 mesh) and passed through a 40 mesh screen and retained on a 60 mesh screen (-40 +60 mesh). The target density of particleboard was set at 0.8 g/cm3 to be pressed at a temperature of 180C for 10 minutes. Citric acid was used as a bonding agent with 20 wt based on the dry weight of particles. Physical and mechanical properties tests were performed according to the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) A 5908 for particleboard. The result showed that the single-layer particleboards had higher mechanical properties compared to three-layer particleboards. The highest properties of single-layer particleboard were achieved with the particle size of salacca frond of -40 +60 mesh. The properties of the board met the requirement of the JIS A 5908 type 13 standard. Based on this result, it showed that salacca frond has potential as a material for manufacturing particleboard.