The construction industry offers a wide range of materials for various types of finishing and repair work. Modern production is progressing every year in the variety of creating new construction products. Chipboard is one of the most popular materials. DSP: this is what this abbreviation stands for and what should be taken into account when choosing a material will help to find out the article presented.
DSP: what’s this?
What is chipboard? It is a particle board produced by hot-pressing of dried chips, sawdust and wood chips with the addition of synthetic resins that are used as a binder. The raw material used to create the material is shavings, sawmill waste, woodworking and plywood production.
Compared with natural wood, chipboard is devoid of many drawbacks: voids, knots. This material has a uniform composition and equal rigidity over the entire area. And the presence of synthetic resins in the composition of the product, such as phenolic and formaldehyde, contributes to reliable retention of fasteners in its thickness.
The first prototype of a chipboard is a building material made from a mixture of sawdust and casein glue created in 1887 by Ernest Hubbard. Later in 1918 this material was veneered. At this time, the scientist Freudenberg from Germany patented the ideal formula for the material, where he accurately calculated the ratio of sawdust and binder, which should be no more than 3-10%. In 1935, these data were adjusted, and the first plate was released using a phenolic binder.
Then came the moisture-resistant chipboard, which included paraffin. In the USSR, the first plate was produced in 1957, which was the beginning of the creation of a powerful domestic chipboard production at plywood mills.
Due to its high strength, moisture resistance and lightness for machining, the material is very popular in the manufacture of furniture, door blocks, for installation of interior partitions.
Based on the sound insulation and thermal insulation properties of the material, chipboard is often used for the floor. This material allows you to achieve a perfectly flat design for insulation of wooden or concrete floors, while the cost of the work will be minimal.
The technological process of manufacturing chipboard from different manufacturers may vary. This significantly affects the weight of the chipboard sheet, which depends on the type of wood, the density of pressing and the size of the finished product.
However, any production process for creating a particle board consists of several basic steps, which will be discussed below.
Preparation of raw materials. The starting material is obtained from waste wood industry, which is crushed to a certain size.
Drying and mechanical selection. The raw material enters the drying chamber, where vortex drying is performed with hot air flows, which helps reduce the moisture content of the material by 6-7%. Next, the dried raw material is sent to the cyclic installation, where the selection of the right-sized particles. They move on to the next stage, while the larger ones return to the re-grinding stage.
Component connection. Wood drying enters the mixer, where it combines with formaldehyde resins.
Form creation. The wood pulp is poured onto the conveyor belt in several layers, created under the action of a cold press. Next, hot press combines all layers into a single blank. Then the plate is cooled and dried. Here there is a cut of sheet on the sizes established by the standard.
Decorative coating. This stage is used to create laminated chipboard. The surface is pre-leveled and carefully polished. Then the sheet is placed with the back side on sulphate paper and covered with sulphate and finishing paper. Under the action of the press is laminated chipboard.
The uniformity and quality of the final product depends directly on the production equipment on which the fabric was made, and on the degree of preparation of the raw materials. For the production of chipboard used low-value wood of hardwood and coniferous wood, any construction wood debris, which must comply with certain geometric requirements.
Raw materials should not resemble fine dust and contain sawdust with a square cross-section, which impair the material’s ability to resist bending.
Chipboard can be composed of several layers. Depending on this, they are divided into single-layer, three-layer and multi-layer. Multilayer plates are the highest quality. Here, larger chips are used on the inner layers of the material, and small chips on the outer layers. There are chipboard with a unique design – tamburat. Tamburat is designed in the form of a “sandwich”, where the upper and lower layers are represented by chipboard of various thickness, and in the middle there is a cellular cardboard.
According to the method of processing the surface of the chipboard material can be laminated and laminated.
Laminated chipboard sheet is obtained by applying to the material surface a decorative protective layer under the action of high temperature (140-210 ° C) and pressure (25-28 MPa).
To date, the use of laminated chipboard is very popular. Using this material you can create real masterpieces. Well-known manufacturers, such as the Kronospan holding, are clearly focused on consumer demand and produce particleboard in a variety of colors. There are several groups in which the general color spectrum of the particle board is arranged:
- monophonic smooth (yellow, white, blue);
- plain textural (textured white, aluminum);
- woody tones (beech, cherry, alder);
- imitation of rare woods (“Merano”, “Cordoba”, “Oak Winchester”);
- glossy tones;
- veneered tones;
- fancy decors with patterns and drawings.
Helpful advice! For the manufacture of the front of the furniture should be used veneered, glossy and fancy colors.
What is KDSP? This is a kind of chipboard, which is obtained by gluing paper-resin films on the surface of chipboard with the help of adhesive composition. This is achieved at lower rates, compared with laminated chipboard, temperature (20-150 ° C) and pressure (5-7 MPa).
Compared with laminated chipboard, KDSP has a lower cost. However, despite the initial presentable appearance has a small life.
Modern industry offers chipboard with laminated laminate. These polymeric materials contain parallel layers of filler (veneer, cloth, paper). Such chipboard will have good plasticity, mechanical strength, resistance to impact.
Countertops made of chipboard for the kitchen are made using exactly this technology. The popularity is due to high physical parameters, a wide range of textures that mimic artificial and natural materials, as well as an affordable price.
The quality of the surface of the material chipboard is divided into three grades.
1st grade. These materials have a perfectly flat, smoothly polished surface. Even the smallest scratches, chips, waviness, protrusions, grooves, crushed corners and edges are not allowed here. This cloth is processed on special linear grinding installation.
This type of material is used in the manufacture of furniture, as a cloth for the subsequent application of veneer, lamination.
2 grade. This is the culling of first-class finished material. On the surface there may be small scratches, chipped edges. But the total percentage of defects, depending on the size of the sheet should not exceed 10%. Materials grade 2 may differ in appearance from the outside. They can be with the usual surface, fine-grained and coarse-grained outer layer. The material is used for construction work and in the manufacture of furniture.
3rd grade: fancy leaf. This is an absolute marriage, where scratches, chips, cracks and other mechanical damage are clearly visible. Materials of this class can be used for formwork, the creation of interior partitions. Those. in places that are hidden from the human eye.
Note! For the manufacture of furniture for kitchens and bathrooms there are chipboard high moisture resistance, which include paraffin. Such plates have a greenish shade on the cut.
The cost of a chipboard sheet of a first-class material with a size of 2440×1830 mm and a thickness of 18 mm will be about 800 rubles. Accordingly, the cost of a square will cost 150 rubles.
Material grade 2 can be purchased much cheaper. The price for a sheet of chipboard 18 mm thick and 3500×1750 mm in size will be within 120 rubles. per square meter.
For the production of chipboard manufacturers adhere to the standard, which regulates the two main brands of chipboard, different physical and mechanical properties.
Mark П-А: a product of the increased quality with the improved indicators of durability on a bend and stretching. Unlike PB, material grade П-А has a low percentage of swelling, has a smaller percentage of the roughness of the distortion of the plane. Mark П-А is exposed to facing.
High-quality material must have certain physical and mechanical properties:
- water absorption is 12-88%;
- humidity is in the range of 6-10%;
- the percentage of swelling in thickness of the material in 24 hours should not exceed 5-30%;
- specific heat is 1.7-1.9 kJ;
- thermal conductivity is in the range of 0.07-0.25 W;
- material thickness ranges from 10-38 mm.
DSP is a versatile building material that can be used in the manufacture of furniture, door panels, table tops, window sills, for flooring. The material has high strength and rigidity. Having stopped the choice on a chipboard it is possible to receive construction material, easy in processing, for reasonable price.
