Rice Straw and Flax Fiber Particleboards as a Product of Agricultural Waste: An Evaluation of Technical Properties

Construction materials have a direct impact on the environment, on people, and their health. In addition, building insulation plays a decisive role in terms of energy consumption of buildings and regarding CO2-emissions over their whole life cycle. In order to achieve a holistic concept for green building worldwide, it is necessary to develop ecological insulating materials and to scientifically examine them in terms of their technical properties, as done with particleboards from agricultural waste presented in this article. This study aims to characterize the properties’ tensile and compressive strength, modulus of rupture (MOR), and elasticity (MOE) and thermal conductivity of particleboards affected by parameters, such as waste type (rice straw or flax shives), particleboard density, resin type, and content, as well as the use of treated rice straw. Particleboards made from flax shives had superior properties compared to the rice straw particles. The mechanical properties of the boards increase with an increasing resin content, except for the MOR and MOE, which decrease with an increasing resin content, and reach their peak value at a resin content of 10%.