This study focused on the heat transfer involved in hot pressing. The temperature behaviour inside the mat of wood-based panels according to the manufacturing conditions-such as mat moisture level, furnish material, and press temperature-was characterised. Hinoki strands and ring-flaker recycled wood particles were used for experimental panel production. Temperature behaviour was measured at the surface and the centre of the mat. The results indicate that the manufacturing condition affected the temperature behaviour of the mat during hot pressing. Plateau time increased with increasing mat moisture content and utilisation of hinoki strands but decreased with increasing press temperature. Use of hinoki strands resulted in a higher plateau temperature than did recycled wood particles. The higher mat moisture content and press temperature resulted in a higher plateau temperature. Furnish type also affected heat conductivity in the mat centre after the completion of the plateau.

The purposes of this study were to examine the use of furniture mill residues containing highdensity raw materials in particleboard production and to evaluate the effect of mixing several types of furnish on board performance. Wood wastes collected from the furniture industry in Japan containing matoa (Pometia pinnata), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) with different particle shape were prepared as raw materials for use in the manufacture of experimental particleboards. Seven board type and three mixed boards were manufactured with three replications. Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) resin was applied at 6% content in mat preparation. The pressing conditions were temperature of 180°C, initial pressure of 3 MPa, and pressing time of 5 minutes. The target density was 0.72 g/cm³. This study showed that matoa particleboard had properties suitable for use in interior applications, although its properties were considered inferior compared with other particleboards. Improvement of matoa particleboard could be achieved by mixing with higher quality wood particles such as those from sugi or Douglas-fir. The furnish type used in this study affected board performance. All residues from furniture mills have the potential to be used for particleboard production, even when they contain different furnish types and wood species.

Wood waste materials such as flakes, particles, sawdust, planer shaving, which are residues from furniture industry can be utilized to manufacture many composites such as particleboard. The most commonly used particleboard has three layers: two face layers and one core layer. The face layers consist of fine particles and the core layer is made of coarse particles.This study aimed to show the effect of shelling ratio and particle characteristic on physical properties of three-layer particleboard with high density core and different particles on surface layers. The materials used in this study were hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) strand and knife-milled Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga manziesii) as surface layers and hammer-milled matoa (Pometia sp.) as core layer. The wood particles were collected from a wood company. Adhesive used was MDI resin (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) with 6 % content in mat preparation. The pressing conditions were: temperature 180°C, pressure  3 MPa and pressing time  5 min. The target density was 0.72 g/cm3 with board size of 340 mm x 320 mm  x 10 mm. Factors used in this study were layer structure according to board shelling ratio and particle characteristic. The parameters of this study were density, moisture content, thickness swelling, water absorption, linear expansion and vertical density profile.The results of this study indicate that all boards meet the requirements of JIS A 5908-2003. Higher shelling ratio of surface layers resulted in higher physical performance of three-layer particleboard. In terms of particle type, hinoki strands showed the best performance in board density and linear expansion, while Douglas-fir particle showed the best performance in moisture content, thickness swelling and water absorption. Improvement of physical properties of particleboard with high density wood particles in core layer can be conducted by adding surface layer with higher quality wood particles such as hinoki strands or Douglas-fir particles. Compared to Douglas-fir particles, hinoki strands as surface layers contribute to higher enhancement of three-layer particleboard with matoa as the core layer.