Improving Surface Quality of Resin Impregnated Paper Used for Laminated Flooring Overlaid

Abstract

This study aimed to improve the quality properties of impregnated papers used as a coating material in wood-based composites, especially for high-density fiberboard (HDF) floorings, using the Taguchi method and parameter design. Three factors were evaluated in determining the interactions as they are considered the most important in affecting the product quality characteristics such as particle size of Al2O3, surface modification agent and melamine raw material. Experiments were conducted in three replications using the L18 (21 × 32) orthogonal array. Color and gloss measurements were evaluated together with the sensory analysis method, which takes into account the number of the spots in the sample as quality characteristics. The best values obtained as a result of statistical analysis were A2 for the melamine raw material, 30 to 60 μm for the particle size and N-methyl-3-(trimethoxysilyl) propylamine for the surface modifier agent. Whether the experimental factors have a meaningful effect on the quality characteristics was also tested separately by analysis of variance. Only 58 % of the effect of the evaluated factors on the outcome could be expressed with the linear model (R2adj = 0.5785).