Effect of post-thermal treatment on the density profile of rubberwood particleboard and its relation to mechanical properties

The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of heat treatment on the changes in density profile of rubberwood particleboard samples. The relationship between density profile and mechanical properties of particleboard samples was determined using regression analysis. Single layer particleboard made from rubberwood particles with dimensions of 340 mm × 340 mm × 12 mm and targeted density of 700 kg m-3 was heat-treated using oven and hot press at three different temperature levels, namely, 100, 150 and 200 °C for 30 min. All density profile attributes were significantly affected by heat treatment. Bending properties, internal bond strength and hardness were influenced by treatment temperature. However, samples treated using hot press had better mechanical properties compared with those treated using oven. Mean and peak densities exerted profound effects on mechanical properties of the samples

Properties of particleboard with oil palm trunk as core layer in comparison to three-layer rubberwood particleboard

Compaction ratio is highly dependent on the density of the wood materials used in the production of particleboard. Lower density wood materials will produce particleboard with higher compaction ratio and is believed to give better properties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the properties of threelayer particleboard made from rubberwood and oil palm trunk with different bulk density as the core layer, while the rubberwood fine particles served as surface layers for both types of particleboard. This study also investigated the effect of shelling ratios on the mechanical and physical properties of the threelayer particleboard. Melamine-fortified urea formaldehyde (UF) resin was used as the binder. The modulus of rupture (MOR), internal bond strength (IB) and thickness swelling (TS) of the particleboards were evaluated based on the Japanese Industrial Standard for particleboard (JIS A 5908:2003). The results showed that both species and shelling ratios are variables that influenced the mechanical and physical properties of the particleboard. Despite its lower compaction ratio, particleboard made from rubberwood alone had better strength properties and dimensional stability than particleboard made from a mixture of rubberwood and oil palm trunk

Thermal treatment of wood using vegetable oils: a review

Wood is an ideal building material as it is renewable and green. However, low dimensional stability and durability might restrict its usage in structural application. Therefore, modification is needed to improve the aforementioned issues. As an environmentally friendly wood modification method, heat treatment of wood using oil as a heating medium has brought to researcher’s attention to the fact that it might serve as an excellent treatment procedure in treating wood. This paper presents a review about the effects of oil heat treatment on the properties of wood such as colour stability, dimensional stability, mechanical strength and durability against termites and fungi as well as its potential to be used as construction and building materials. The pros and cons of using oil as a heating medium in wood treatment are discussed. This review shows discrepancies between the treatment methods or procedures and its resultant findings. Moreover, the effectiveness of the treatment is governed by several factors such as the type of oils used and wood species. The objective of the present paper is to conduct a review of the published literatures regarding the properties of wood modified by oil heat treatment and the results obtained were compared systematically

Enhanced properties of single-layer particleboard made from oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre with additional water-soluble additives

The efficacy of additional water-soluble additives was studied relative to the physical and mechanical properties of particleboards produced from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB). Polyethylene glycol, acrylamide, and acrylic resin were selected as water-soluble additives for use in the OPEFB particleboard production process. The effects of the three additives at two different concentrations (2% and 4% of dry OPEFB mass) on the particleboard properties were evaluated. Addition of water-soluble additives increased the performance of the OPEFB particleboard. The additive concentration has a significant effect on the properties of the particleboard. With the increase of additive concentration, the internal bonding and modulus of rupture value increased while the thickness swelling and water absorption decreased. Particleboards with an additional 4% of acrylamide or polyethylene glycol achieved the highest modulus of rupture (22 MPa), highest internal bonding strength (1 N/mm2), and lowest thickness swelling (9%). All the particleboards produced with 4% of water-soluble additive achieved the standard requirements of JIS A 5908:2003 for physical and mechanical properties

Thermal treatment of wood using vegetable oils: a review

Wood is an ideal building material as it is renewable and green. However, low dimensional stability and durability might restrict its usage in structural application. Therefore, modification is needed to improve the aforementioned issues. As an environmentally friendly wood modification method, heat treatment of wood using oil as a heating medium has brought to researcher’s attention to the fact that it might serve as an excellent treatment procedure in treating wood. This paper presents a review about the effects of oil heat treatment on the properties of wood such as colour stability, dimensional stability, mechanical strength and durability against termites and fungi as well as its potential to be used as construction and building materials. The pros and cons of using oil as a heating medium in wood treatment are discussed. This review shows discrepancies between the treatment methods or procedures and its resultant findings. Moreover, the effectiveness of the treatment is governed by several factors such as the type of oils used and wood species. The objective of the present paper is to conduct a review of the published literatures regarding the properties of wood modified by oil heat treatment and the results obtained were compared systematically

Exploration of genetic algorithm in network coding for wireless sensor networks

Wireless network comprises of multiples nodes that work together to form a network. Each node in a wireless network communicates with one another by disseminating information packet among them. Source node and destination node are often far apart from each other, thus the information packet has to be transmitted to intermediate node(s) before it is able to be relayed to its destination. Network coding is introduced to combine several packets from different sources and broadcast the combined packet to several destinations in single transmission time slot. Each destination is capable to extract the intended information by decoding from a common packet. In short, network coding improves the throughput for wireless and wired networks but also causes side effects such as complexity of packets management and increases delay for coding opportunity. Hence, genetic algorithm is used to optimize the resources for network coding. Genetic algorithm will search for optimum routes to the destination according to the desired throughput with a desired multicast rate. In this paper, genetic algorithm is further enhanced in searching of optimum route for a packet. The simulation results show the enhanced genetic algorithm can adapt to various situations with different topologies with a better throughput and energy consumption compared to the store-and-forward method used in conventional wireless sensor network

A genetic algorithm for management of coding resources in VANET

This project aims to improve the throughput, energy consumption and overhead of vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) by optimising the network coding (NC) using Genetic Algorithm (GA). VANET shows a promising technology as it could enhance the traffic efficiency and promote traffic safety on the road systems. The conventional store-and-forward transmission protocol used in the intermediate node(s) simply stores the received packet and then send at a later time to the destination. However, the rapid changing in VANET topology has made the conventional store-and-forward approach inefficient to meet the throughput and reliability demand posed by VANET. Hence, NC is proposed to perform additional functions on the packet in the source or intermediate node(s). However, the chances to perform NC in wireless network is highly unlikely if the packet is not transmit to the potential NC node. Therefore, GA based network routing (GANeR) is embedded into network to search for shortest path from the source to the destination. It showed that the developed GANER in this work provides a better route with coding opportunities and reduces energy consumption in the network. The total energy consumed by GANER is 5.6% fewer than NC in wireless network transmission and forwarding structure (COPE)

SUMO ENHANCEMENT FOR VEHICULAR COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT

It is normal that every family is having at least one vehicle at their home as vehicles have become a daily needs for all of us. However, this also leads to the increased of road accidents where major causes are related to human errors which can be prevented. To tackle with this problem, vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is introduced with the aim to make vehicles intelligent. In order to study the algorithm in VANET, a mobility simulator is needed for simulation purpose. In this case, SUMO is proved to be a good simulation tool in generating VANET environment while MATLAB is good for algorithm development. Yet, to develop a good simulation platform, modification on SUMO files are necessary. This paper discusses on the procedures in creating a left-hand traffic (LHT) simulation file that is suitable to be used in Malaysia. LHT simulation is not easy to achieve as modification on the road connection and traffic light files are required. This paper also showed the results of the simulation after SUMO files modification. Apart from that, this paper also showed the simulation of VANET environment using SUMO and MATLAB through a third party interfacing named TraCI4Matlab, which allows communication between MATLAB and SUMO simulator

Characterization of bioadsorbent produced using incorporated treatment of chemical and carbonization procedures

The production of bioadsorbent from palm kernel shell (PKS) and coconut shell (CS) pretreated with 30% phosphoric acid (H3PO4) was optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM). Iodine adsorption for both bioadsorbents was optimized by central composite design. Two parameters including the H3PO4 pretreatment temperature and carbonization temperature were determined as significant factors to improve the iodine adsorption of the bioadsorbent. Statistical analysis results divulge that both factors had significant effect on the iodine adsorption for the bioadsorbent. From the RSM analysis, it was suggested that using 80 and 79°C as H3PO4 pretreatment temperature and 714 and 715°C as carbonization temperature would enhance the iodine adsorption of the CS and PKS bioadsobent, respectively. These results indicated that H3PO4 is a good pretreatment for preparing PKS and CS prior to carbonization process to produce bioadsorbent with well developed microporous and mesoporous volume. The effort to produce alternative high grade and inexpensive adsorbent derived from lignocellulosic biomass, particularly in the nut shell form was implied in this research

Effect of glue spreads on the structural properties of laminated veneer lumber from spindleless rotary veneers recovered from short rotation hevea plantation logs

Unproductive young rubber trees (15 years old) with smaller diameters (15 to 18 cm) compared to conventional rubber logs, harvested at the age of 25 years old, were selected for the production of laminated panels. Spindleless rotary veneer peeling was applied to logs from short-rotation rubber forest plantations to produce veneers for structural purposes. This raises questions about the utilization of these small-diameter logs with respect to its effect on the quality of veneer and laminated panels produced. This study examines the effect of the glue spread rates on the physical and mechanical properties of rubberwood laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Analysis of variance shows that the application of a 280 g/m2 glue spread rate significantly improved the density, water absorption and dimensional stability of rubberwood LVL. The mechanical properties of rubberwood LVL produced with a 200 g/m2 glue spread rate met the minimum requirement for the 2.1E-3100F stress class; 91.05 MPa for the modulus of rupture in the flatwise direction and 50.23 MPa for compressive strength parallel to the longitudinal axis. The modulus of elasticity in the flatwise direction of 11,189.55 MPa reached the minimum requirement for the 1.5E-2250F stress class