EVALUATION OF SURFACE QUALITY OF MEDIUM DENSITY FIBERBOARDS (MDF) AND PARTICLEBOARDS AS FUNCTION OF WEATHERING

The objective of the study was to evaluate thesurface quality of commercially producedparticleboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF)panels as function of weathering. Four types ofpanels were exposed to three weathering cycles ofwater soaking, freezing, and heat exposures todetermine the influence of such conditions on theirsurface roughness. The stylus type equipment wasemployed to determine the roughness of controlsamples as well as after each one of the weatheringcycle. Two accepted roughness parameters, namelyaverage roughness (Ra) and mean peak-to-valleyheight (Rz) were used for the measurement of overallroughness changes of the specimens. Surfaces ofboth types of particleboard samples were adverselyinfluenced as a result of first cycle of weathering andthen they were reconditioned and subjected to twomore exposure cycles. In the case of MDF samplesthe first and the second weathering exposuresincreased roughness of the samples but they wererebalanced at the end of the third cycle. The highestRa value of 17.16μm was determined forparticleboard samples exposed to the first exposurecycle. Overall surface quality of MDF samples wereless influenced than those of particleboardspecimens. Based on the findings in this work itappears that stylus technique can effectively be usedto evaluate surface quality of such composite panelsas they are subjected to different weatheringexposures.