Statistical fatigue experiment design in medium density fiberboard

Abstract

Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) is a wood-based composite widely employed in several industrial applications, in addition to its use in structures subjected to dynamic loads. Its fatigue-related aspects, however, have been consistently ignored. This work proposes to study fatigue in MDF, including the following factors: the basic concepts of MDF and fatigue and the statistical design of fatigue experiments in MDF, with the purpose of obtaining accurate information for analysis by means of statistical methods. The results of our tests revealed that the statistical model is suitable to fit the number of cycles in intermediary S and f levels and to determine the levels of the factors that maximize the total number of cycles to failure. It was also found that the proposed design is of great practical interest for fatigue strength in the tension in wood and wood derivatives.

Keywords

• MDF
• fatigue
• fatigue properties in wood composites
• factorial designs