Effect of Propylene Carbonate on the Properties of Composite Fiberboard from Wood Fiber Bonded with Renewable Wood Resin

In our previous article, we studied the feasibility of using wood resin in mixture with urea—formaldehyde resin as a binder for the fiberboard composites. In the present article, we have made an attempt to verify the effectiveness of propylene carbonate (PC) as an accelerator on the curing and performance of the composite from the resin mixture. The results demonstrated that the performance of the resulting composite fiberboard cured at lower temperature could be enhanced by addition of propylene carbonate. The composites cured in presence of PC surpassed the minimum requirement of physical properties specified by ANSI-AHA standards. The dosage of PC was optimized to achieve the best combination of composite properties.