Materiales de Construccion (Jun 1997)
Creep of MDF panels under constant load and cyclic environmental conditions. Influence of surface coating
Abstract
Four different strategies of surface coating (based on 80 g m2 melamin impregnated papers) were used on 19 mm thick commercial MDF panels to assess its reological behaviour under cyclic humidity conditions (20ºC 30 % rh-20ºC 90 % rh). Three different levels of stress (20 %, 30 % and 40 %), based on the ultimate load in bending, were used. Tests were conducted by means of the three points load system. For the same stress level, the relative creep of MDF panels was higher than that in particle boards with similar characteristics. This behaviour was just the opposite than the one exhibited by the panels when the comparison is made based on the same level of load (kg) Melamin coating seems to strongly influence the creep behaviour of the raw material, especially when surface and edge coating were combined.