Selected properties of wood strand and oriented strandboard from small-diameter southern pine trees

Thermal and mechanical properties of southern pine and willow strands and properties of southern pine oriented strandboard (OSB) from small-diameter logs were investigated in this study. The effects of density and species group on tensile strength, dynamic moduli, and thermal stability of wood strands, and of strand quality (i.e., wood fines) on three-layer OSB properties were analyzed. Strand tensile strength and dynamic storage moduli (E') increased with the increase of strand density. A large variation in both tensile strength and E' values was observed for southern pine, while willow strands showed much smaller variability. The dynamic moduli (E') of strands decreased with increase of temperature in the range of 25 degrees to 200 degrees C. Small loss modulus (E") peaks were observed over the temperature range studied. The strands with higher densities had higher E". Thermogravimetric analysis results revealed that high-density strands were thermally more stable than low-density strands. Three-layer OSB made of small-diameter southern pine trees showed satisfactory strength and dimensional stability properties. As the fines loading levels increased, linear expansion (LE) along the parallel direction decreased, while the LE value along the perpendicular direction and thickness swelling increased. With increased fines levels, the internal bond strength showed an increasing trend up to the 20% fines level, and bending strength and modulus varied little in the parallel direction and slightly decreased in the perpendicular direction.