Production process
Fibre boards (MDF/HDF)
Fibre boards have a homogenous structure that is finer than with chip board. Thus they can be processed similarly to solid wood. For example, it is possible to mill them and fit them with profiles. One differentiates mainly between MDF (medium dense fibre board) and HDF (highly dense fibre board). The most modern are the especially thin fibre boards from 1 mm thickness (THDF and UT-HDF).
The medium density fibre board (MDF) was invented in the USA and became more common in Europe towards the end of the 1980s. MDF is mainly used in the furniture and flooring industry, as well as in interior construction. Other applications are, among others, for doors, as interior covers in the automotive industry, in construction, or in semiconductors. The boards can be veneered, laminated, laquered, or coated. Boards are produced from 1.2 mm to 60 mm. The density ranges from 600 kg/ m³ to 1200 kg/ m³. The boards with a density over 800 kg/m³ are usually known by the name HDF. These are mainly used as beams for the flooring industry (Laminate flooring). In total, around 100 million m³ (2016) MDF/HDF boards are produced. The largest capacities are in China, Turkey and Brazil.
Source product
The base material for MDF and fibre boards are woodcontaining fibres. Mainly the materials used are industrial logs, saw side products (wood chips), rarely also scrap wood. It is also possible to use bamboo, bagasse, rice and wheat straw, or similar vegetable fibres. In the procedure described here, we are assuming industrial logs are the raw material basis. Deviations from the production process can be possbile if the raw material is different.
