Lightweight particleboards made from annual and perennial plants

One aim of a joint European project called DIPP is the development of lightweight particleboards made from annual and perennial farm plants such as hemp, sunflower, topinambur, maize and miscanthus. These lightweight particleboards are intended to be a possible cheap substitution for traditional wood-based particleboards used in the furniture industry. Therefore the requirements of the EN 312 concerning the moisture-related and mechanical properties of boards for interior use have to be fulfilled. For the production of lightweight boards, light particles with high intra-porosity should be used. In this way some agricultural plants are most suitable for this purpose, because the stalks of sunflower, topinambur and maize are filled with light parenchyma cells.