Strength and Dimensional Stability of Cement-bonded Boards Manufactured from Mixture of Ceiba pentandra and Gmelina arborea Sawdust

Abstract

Cement bonded boards of 6 mm in thickness were produced from the mixture of Ceiba pentandra and Gmelina arborea sawdust. The influence of weight to weight proportion of C. pentandra and G. arborea blended at levels of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 in mass and mixing ratios of cement to wood 2:1 and 3:1 on Modulus of Rupture (MOR), Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) Water Absorption (WA) and Thickness Swelling (TS) properties of the experimental boards were examined for 24 h and 48 h immersion in cold water. The mean values for MOE and MOR were from 2479.50 to 5294.30 N/mm2 and 0.82 N/mm2 to 3.02 N/mm2 respectively, while the mean values for TS and WA after 24 h in cold water were from 0.53% to 7.35% and 14.8% to 52% respectively, whereas after 48 h in cold water immersion the mean values for TS and WA were from 2.37% to 10.48% and 16.5% to 69.5% respectively. It was observed that, increase in G. arborea (75%) to C. pentandra (25%) and mixing ratio 3:1 (cement/wood) was responsible for increase in MOR and MOE and decrease in TS and WA. The result shows that cement-bonded boards can be manufactured from Ceiba pentandra sawdust when mixed at certain blending proportion and ratio.