DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERED MATERIALS UTILIZING

ORGANIC FIBER WASTE

Dr. Lyndon G. Solis/Dr. Madeliene R.Solis
Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU), Magalang, Pampanga, Philippines

Abstract
The study aimed to determine the strength of developed engineered materials in the form of fiberboard
using organic fiber wastes such as abaca, banana, coconut coir, corn and water lily. The said materials were
incorporated at fiber-binder ratios of 1:2, 1:2.5 and 1:3, respectively. Quality of the fiber boards was assessed in
terms of axial stress, bending stress, fiber strength, water absorption and fire resistance.
Of the four fibers studied, abaca fiber was the best in terms of axial stress, bending stress, fiber strength,
and water absorption.

Key words : Engineered materials, fiber board, axial stress, bending stress

INTRODUCTION
As the world population continues to
increase, economic and industrial growth will
continue to generate increasing amounts of waste
materials. Disposal methods, whatever the form, have
a direct impact on the delicate balance in the physical,
chemical and biological environments that constitute
our global ecosystem. For many reasons the use of
waste materials in construction as partial or full
replacement of virgin materials has increased. In
general, previous experience showed that the use of
some waste materials has proven to be cost-effective,
environmentally sound, and successful in improving
some of the engineering properties. Fiberboard is a
type of engineered wood product that is made out
of wood fibers.Types of fiberboard include particle
board, medium-density fiberboard, and hardboard.
Fiberboard is sometimes used as a synonym for
particle board, but particle board usually refers to
low-density fiberboard. Fiberboard, particularly m
edium-density fiberboard (MDF), is heavily used i
n the furniture industry. For pieces that will be vis
ible, a veneer of wood is often glued onto fiberboa
rd to give it the appearance of conventional
wood.
Fiberboard is often chosen over materials
such as plywood or chipboard because it is stiff, flat
and easily worked into different shapes and products.
Pieces of fiberboard can also be connected using
wood glue instead of nails or screws, and can be

milled into traditional woodwork joints for

manufacturing furniture or cabinetry. Fiberboard can
also be painted using oil-based paints but is tough on
tools because of its density and high concentration of
glue.
Objectives of the Study
The general objective of the study was to
determine the potential of different plant fiber as a
source of material for fiber board production.
Specifically, the study sought to:
1.

Determine the mechanical property of the fiber

board in terms of:
1.1 Axial Stress
1.2 Bending Stress
1.3 Fiber strength

2. Determine the fire resistance and water absorption

of the different fiber board;
3. Determine the best fiber board among the four
materials used

METHODOLOGY

fiber ratio of 1.5:1. The water was boiled first before

mixing the liquefied cassava starch. Continuous
mixing was done until the binder became transparent.
One hundred grams of each fiber was used for a 6 x
8 piece of fiber board. The binder was poured
equally into the fibers and was manually mixed by
hands. After it was thoroughly mixed it was then
randomly placed to the molder. The molder was
compressed using clamps on both sides. The molded
fiber board was then placed to the oven dryer with a
temperature of 200 C. After two hours, the molder
was removed from the oven and was cooled before
removing it from the molder.

Conceptual Framework

PROCESS
I. Materials:
Abaca,

I. Preparation

banana,corn,

of Materials:

water lily and

Drying

coconut coir

shredding of

II.

fibers

Concept

alternative
source
fiber

Data Collection and Evaluation:

Fiber Board

1.1 Axial Stress

In collecting data for axial stress, manual
testing was used. The area of the fiber board was
measured and the load P was applied by placing the
board hanging on both ends and load was placed
perpendicular to the board.

II. Mixing
of

board

for

and

III. Molding
IV. Testing

the

production of
plyboard

The formula in getting the axial stress is:

is

S=P/A ( Singer, Ferdinand)

needed

OUTPUT

Where:

INPUT

Experimental Procedure
The study used two major processes: first
was the preparation of basic material which includes
the collection of the fibers and was sundried and
chopped. Next is the experimental process which
includes, preparation of binder with different ratios,
mixing the binder with the dried fibers, molding and
cooked in an oven and air dried.
Materials
Abaca, banana, corn and water lily were
collected and sundried until moisture content attained
10-12%. The fibers were cut into strips and weighed.
Cassava starch was used to bind the fiber with a
weight of 200, 250 and 300 grams, respectively. The
moulder used has a dimension of 8 x 6 x made
of solid steel sheet. It has two clamps to hold the
board.
Procedure
After sun drying and cutting the fiber into
strips, the cassava starch was cooked with water

S = Stress or force per unit area

P = Applied load
A = cross sectional area

1.2 Bending Stress

This is the stress caused by the bending
moment known as flexure stresses. Bending was
caused by the load P applied in the fiber board. The
formula in getting the bending stress is:
fb=Mc/I
Where:

(Singer, Ferdinand)

fb = Flexural/Bending Stress
M = maximum moment
c = farthest distance from the
neutral axis
I = moment of inertia

1.3 Water absorption

Test for water absorption was done by
spraying 500 ml of water. Continuous spraying was
done until the water was consumed. The initial weight
and final weight was measured using digital scale.
1.4 Fire Resistance
Fire resistance test was done by placing the
fiber board on top of a burning stove. After two
minutes the stove was turned off. The total area and
thickness of the burned fiber board was measured.

Statistical Analysis
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to
determine the significant differences between the
different samples. To substantiate the findings the
Pairwise Analysis was used.
Ranking was done to determine which
among the different fiber boards gets the best rank in
terms of water absorption and fire resistance

Table 1.

Test of Between Subjects Effects with axial

stress as dependent variable

Source

Type III
Sum of

Axial Stress

Mean

Sig.

Square

Squares
Corrected
15.059a

3.012

8.495

.011

32.736

32.736

92.332

.000

trmt

.314

.157

.443

.662

type

14.745

4.915

13.863

.004

Error

2.127

.355

Total

49.922

12

17.186

11

Model
Intercept

RESULTS ND DISCUSSION

df

Corrected
Total
a. R Squared = .876 (Adjusted R Squared = .773)

Figure 1.

Axial Stress of the four fiber boards with

different ratios of binder

As shown in Figure 1 the abaca with binder

ratio of 1:3 got the highest axial stress with 4.45 psi
followed by binder ratio of 1:2.5 with 3.35 psi and 1:2
with 2.81 psi, respectively. Compared with the other
fibers, banana was next to abaca with an axial stress
of 1.686 psi at 1: 3 binder ratio followed by corn with
1.581 psi and a binder ratio of 1:2.5 The least among
the four fiber boards was obtained from water lily
with 0.472 psi with a binder ratio of 1:3.

Variable

PValue

Remarks

Axial Stress according to

Trmt
Axial Stress according to
Material

0.662

No
Significant
Difference
Significant
Difference

0.004

Table 1 shows that there is no significant

difference in terms of the ratio of the binder with P
value of 0.662, however, in terms of the materials
used it reveals that there is a significant difference
with P-value of 0.004.

Bending Stress

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Bending Stress of the four fiber board

with different ratio of binder
The computed bending stress is shown in
The highest bending stress recorded was

obtained from abaca with binder ratio of 1: 3

with 1,400.27 psi followed by binder ratio of 1:2.5
with 1,045.20 psi ranked 3rd was also from abaca
with binder ratio of 1:2 and bending stress of 858.32
psi. Next to abaca was corn with binding ratio of
1:2 and bending stress of 774.76 psi followed by
1:2.5 with 753.66 psi. The least bending stress was
recorded from water lily with binder ratio of 1:2 and
247.84 psi.

Table 2.

Source

Test of Between Subjects Effects with

bending stress as dependent variable
Type III

df

Mean

Sum of

Sig.

Square

Figure 3.

Squares
Corrected

1206862.5
62a

Model

30
2

6719.519

.000

.131

.880

7.732

.017

397807.8
3

23

The fiber strength of the different materials

is shown in Figure 3. Based from the data, the abaca
has a fiber strength of 20.8 lbs followed by water lily
with 19.72 lbs ranked 3rd is the banana with 19.3 lbs
and the least is corn with 5.18 lbs. Figure 4 shows the
different fiber boards made from corn, abaca, banana
and water lily.

41

308693.60
Error

81.729
630

1193423.5
type

.043

4204857.
1

13439.039

4.691
12

4204857.6
Intercept

Fiber Strength of the four fiber board

with different ratio of binder

241372.5
5

trmt

Fiber Strength

51448.93
6

5720413.7
Total

12
98

Corrected

1515556.1
11

Total

68

a. R Squared = .796 (Adjusted R Squared = .627)

Variable

P-

Remarks

Value
Bending Stress

0.880

according to Trmt
Bending Stress
according to Material

No Significant
Difference

0.017

Figure 4. Different fiber boards with different ratios

of binder

Significant
Difference

Table 2 shows that there is no significant

difference in terms of the ratio of the binder with P
value of 0.880, however, in terms of the materials
used it reveals that there is a significant difference
with P-value of 0.017.

Fire resistance

Water Absorption
Table 3.

Data gathered during the test for water

Absorption

Treat

Initial

Final

% Burned
120.00

Rank

na

ment

Material

Weight

Weight

Absorption

T1

Abaca

192.50

199.20

3.3635

T2

Abaca

198.70

205.50

3.3090

T3

Abaca

214.25

220.25

2.7242

T1

Banana

166.60

176.40

5.5556

12

T2

Banana

198.10

206.60

4.1142

11

T3

Banana

232.60

240.93

3.4574

T1

Corn

194.00

202.22

4.0649

10

T2

Corn

196.30

204.30

3.9158

Figure 6. Percentage of burned fiber board

T3

Corn

203.80

212.00

3.8679

As shown in Figure 6, the most area burned

is that of the water lily, followed by corn and banana.
The abaca has an area burned that ranges from 90%
with binder ratio of 1:2, 90.31% with binder ratio of
1:2.5 and 91.70% with binder ratio of 1:30. However,
in terms of thickness burned, banana has the least
thickness burned followed by abaca and water lily.
Figure 7 shows how fire resistance test was conducted.

Percentage

100.00
80.00

A
% of thickness burned

60.00

% of Area Burned
40.00
20.00
0.00
T1Abaca
T2 T3 T1Banana
T2 T3 T1Corn
T2 T3WaterLily
T1 T2 T3

Water
T1

Lily

7
215.50

223.38

3.5276

Water
T2

Lily

3
222.40

229.40

3.0514

Water
T3

Lily

2
258.40

265.28

3.0394

As shown from Table 3 and Figure 5 the

water absorption was least for the board made from
abaca with binder ratio of 1:3 followed by water lily
with binder ratio of 1:3. Ranked third, fourth and fifth
are water lily (1:2.5), abaca (1:2.5) and abaca (1:2)
with water absorption of 3.05%, 3.31% and 3.36%,
respectively. The most water absorbed is recorded
from banana with 5.56% water absorption

CONCLUSION
Among the four fibers considered in this
study, the abaca fiber board was the most
advantageous in terms of axial stress, bending stress,
fiber strength and water absorption. Thus, abaca was
the most favorable in making fiber board.

Water Absorption
Fire Resistance Test
Water absoprtion, %

6.0000
5.0000
4.0000
3.0000
% Absorption

2.0000
1.0000

Figure 7. Picture showing fire resistance test

Abaca Banana Corn Water Lily

0.0000
T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3
TREATMENTS

Figure 5. Graph for the water absorption test

Abaca can be used as alternative materials

for the production of fiber board. However, an
alternative binder to cassava starch may be tried to
attain the maximum mechanical properties of the fiber
board. A study on the acceptability of the materials
for different uses is highly recommended.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researchers wishes to express their
appreciation and gratitude to the administration of
Pampanga State Agricultural University particularly
PRDET - VP Emelita C. Kempis and former Director
of Research Mari Rowena Tanquilut for giving them
the opportunity to conduct this research.
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Alida Abdullah, Shamsul Baharin Jamaludin, Mazlee
Mohd Noor, Kamarudin Hussin Composite Cement
Reinforced Coconut Fiber: Physical and Mechanical
Propertiesand Fracture Behavior Australian Journal
of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(7): 1228-1240,
2011ISSN 1991-8178
Singer, Ferdinand Strength of Materials, 2nd Edition
Harper International Edition