EFFECT OF PINE CONE RATIO ON THE WETTABILITY AND SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF PARTICLEBOARD

Abstract

In this study, the effect of pine cone ratio on wettability and surface roughness of particleboards was examined. Contact angles of water on the produced samples were measured with a goniometer. The surface roughness of the samples was determined with a fine stylus tracing technique. Particleboards made from 100% wood particle had the lowest average contact angle (95.6 degrees), but the highest was for the particleboards containing 50% pine cone (116.3 degrees). Average surface roughness was higher for samples containing a higher amount of pine cone in the mixture. The smoothest surface (9.77 mu m R-a) was observed when panels were produced using 100% wood particles. On the other hand, the roughest surface (15.50 mu m R-a) was found for the samples containing 50% cone particles in the mixture. R-max and R-z parameters had similar trends to the R-a values. Increasing the pine cone ratio in the mixture negatively affected the contact angle and surface roughness parameters of the particleboard.