MODELLING OF TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN SELF-BONDED BEECH-VENEER BOARDS DURING HOT-PRESSING.

Auto-adhesion is a phenomenon that is in general related to the manufacture of wood-based fibreboards, e.g. to the Masonite process or similar processes based on lignocellulosic raw materials. Auto-adhesion as a mechanism for the bonding of solid wood or veneer has not met with the same industrial success, but interest is increasing for environmental reasons and as a result of the increasing cost of adhesives in wood products. The temperature in the laminate is crucial for the autoadhesion process that will result in bonding between veneers during hot-pressing. This paper presents a model for the temperature evolution during the hot-pressing of a porous material, which was developed and verified for a five-veneer beech laminate pressed at a temperature of 250°C and a pressure of 6MPa in an open system for 280 seconds. The result shows good agreement between the model and the experimental temperature data during the hot-pressing. It can be concluded that a good control of the temperature evolution during the manufacture of adhesive-free veneer boards is of major importance to reach the target properties of the product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]