Basalt grid reinforcement of wood-based panels

By using basalt fibers as reinforcement materials, high performance particleboards could be produced by the wood-based panel industry. Due to the high strength of basalt fibers, the strength-to-weight ratio can be significantly increased, which would allow the use of these particleboards (PB) in high-load-bearing applications. In this study, a basalt grid with a grammage of 200 g m⁻² was implemented to reinforce PB and oriented strand boards (OSB). OSB were bonded with polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate (pMDI), while pMDI as well as melamine–urea–formaldehyde (MUF) and urea–formaldehyde resin (UF) were used for the PB. The target densities of the panel variants were 580, 650 and 720 kg m⁻³. The determination of the mechanical properties showed that the modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) were increased up to 100% and 44% respectively, compared to panels without basalt grids. At the same time, the addition of the basalt reinforcement layer did not cause a decrease in internal bond strength (IB). Thus, the usage of basalt grid as a reinforcement material could be a good possibility to produce high-load-bearing panels without increasing the density of the PB.