This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and

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1 This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit:

2 industrial crops and products 29 (2009) available at journal homepage: The influence of wax-sizing on dimension stability and mechanical properties of bagasse particleboard Xinwu Xu a, Fei Yao b, Qinglin Wu b,, Dingguo Zhou a a College of Wood and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Jiangsu , China b School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA article info abstract Article history: Received 12 February 2008 Received in revised form 7 April 2008 Accepted 11 April 2008 Keywords: Wax-sizing Bagasse particleboard Dimension stability Mechanical property Water-resistant property Bagasse particleboards (BPBs) were made using polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pmdi) resin as binder and wax emulsion as dimension stabilizer. A factorial experiment was conducted to measure the effects of wax and pmdi resin content on particleboard dimension stability and mechanical properties. The data were compared with respective properties specified in the ANSI A208.1 standard for commercial M3 grade wood-based particleboard. Wax-sizing improved the linear expansion (LE) of the particleboards under both pmdi resin contents used in this research and all LE values were controlled under the critical value of 0.35%. The use of wax significantly reduced 24-h water absorption and thickness swelling compared to the control panels without wax. Wax-sizing at the moderate levels also showed positive influence on long-term water absorption and thickness swelling properties. Wax content levels, however, did not significantly influence water absorption and thickness swelling behavior. Wax-sizing had no evident negative effects on the bending properties of MDI-bonded bagasse particleboards under both resin contents, while it caused slightly negative effect on internal bond strength. Mechanical properties of all boards far exceeded the minimum values specified in ANSI A208.1 standard. The entire properties of the 5% pmdi BPBs were better than those of the 3% pmdi panels as expected Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Sugar cane is an important agricultural crop in the southern U.S. (Rowell, 1995; FAO, 2006). The cane stalk consists of an inner pith that contains most of the sucrose, and an outer rind with lignocellulosic fibers. Cane processing crushes the entire stalk to extract the sucrose, from which refined sugar is produced. Large quantities of the bagasse, containing both crushed rind and pith fibers, remain after sugar extraction. Disposal of this byproduct from the sugar industry is so far still inefficient (Rowell and Keany, 1991; Han and Wu, 2004). For instance, approximately 85% of the bagasse produced in Louisiana is currently used in-house as fuel in mill processes and for other low value applications such as mulch and inexpensive ceiling tiles. The remaining 15% is waste that is allowed to decay or is landfilled (Paturau, 1989; Han and Wu, 2004). Transforming bagasse into high quality industrial panel products, such as bagasse particleboards (BPBs) or bagasse polymer composites (Talavera et al., 2007), provides a prospective solution for more effective bagasse utilization. Corresponding author at: School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, 227 RNR Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Tel.: ; fax: address: wuqing@lsu.edu (Q. Wu) /$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi: /j.indcrop

3 industrial crops and products 29 (2009) One of the potential markets for bagasse-based composites is core material for laminated floors, where high-density wood fiberboard is currently being used. Dimensional stability is one of the key performance characteristics that must be satisfied, which may otherwise induce internal stresses and out-of-plane distortion to floor. Unfortunately, dimensional stability is one of the most difficult problems to overcome for agrifiber composites. With relatively low bulk density, higher compression ratios are usually used to make boards at similar density levels as wood-based composite boards. An early research (Wu, 2001) demonstrated that particleboards derived from bagasse with 5% polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pmdi) resin had evident thickness swelling (TS) and linear expansion (LE), which failed to meet the minimum TS (8%) and LE (0.35%) specifications in the ANSI A standard (ANSI, 1999). A higher level of pmdi (e.g., 8%) can be effective in controlling the stability properties, but the manufacturing cost correspondingly increases. It was suggested that methods other than increasing resin content levels were necessary to be considered in reducing the stability problems. Acetylation, steaming, and wax-sizing are three basic methods to improve board dimensional stability for woodbased composites. Acetylation generally shows negative effects on mechanical strength of boards, although it can help improve dimensional stability. For example, Bueso et al. (2000) showed that acetylation could improve both mechanical strength and dimensional stability. Softwood (spruce and pine), mixed waste wood, beech, wheat straw, and recycled paper were pulped into fibers to make dry-process medium density fiberboard (MDF). The fibers were acetylated before mat-forming. Results showed significant decreases of TS, water absorption (WA), and LE. Simultaneously, the mechanical properties of modified boards were statistically better than the control group with wheat straw boards as an exception. For steam treatment of particles or fibers, Chow et al. (1996) showed thathemlock fibers were pretreated at a 1.55 MPa steam pressure for 10 min, and were subsequently made into hardboards. Both optimized dimensional stability and better mechanical properties were achieved. Wax-sizing has long been used for dimensional stabilization of wood and ag-fiber composites (Nada and Hassan, 1999; Cai et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2008). As a hydrophobic substance, it can be effective in water and humidity repellency (Heebink, 1967). Two types of wax are utilized in industrial applications, i.e., molten- and emulsified-wax. Molten-wax is comparatively pure but is difficult to spread evenly on particles or fibers. Emulsified-wax, however, brings extra water into wood particles and may exert potential burdens to the hot-pressing process. Suzuki et al. (1976) investigated the water absorption of dry-process fiberboards, and found lower WAs and TSs with increased content of paraffin wax and board density. However, the effectiveness of wax-sizing was impaired with long-term water immersion. Although acetylation and steaming are helpful to modify the dimensional stability of boards, their industrial application is often cost-prohibitive. Comparably, wax-sizing is more promising to be widely used in the agro-fiber composites industry. The objective of this research was to investigate effects of wax on dimensional stability and mechanical properties of bagasse particleboard in combination with MDI resin. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Raw material preparation Bagasse was collected from former Acadia Board Corporation in New Iberia, Louisiana. The fibers had been open-field stored and naturally dried for several months prior to collection. Bulk bagasse collected was then milled into small particles with a PHM3 Pullman hammermill. The particles were manually screened to separate fines, and then kiln-dried to about 3% moisture content (MC) before use. Polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, ISOBIND-1088 from DOW CHEMICAL Company, was used in the study. This resin had dark brown color. The wax applied was paraffin wax emulsion, milk-white and low viscosity with 45% solid content obtained from a local wood particleboard manufacturer Experiment design and board manufacturing A 2 5 factorial experiment was conducted to measure the effects of pmdi resin content (two levels: 3 and 5%) and wax content (five levels: 0, 1, 1.75, 2.5 and 3.75%) on particleboard mechanical properties and dimension stability. Each of ten treatments had two replications and, therefore, twenty mm panels were made in total. Bagasse particles were blended with pmdi resin and wax emulsion in a lab-fabricated blending system. The resin and wax were sprayed separately using compressed air. Mats were then manually formed and hot-pressed into solid panels (500 mm 500 mm 6.35 mm) under 200 C for 180 s. The particle weight for each panel was carefully adjusted to satisfy the target density of 0.85 ± 0.03 g/cm Mechanical property and stability testing All boards were conditioned at 20 ± 3 C and 65 ± 1% relative humidity (RH) for 2 weeks prior to cutting samples. Tests made included basic mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity MOE, modulus of rupture MOR, and internal bond strength IB) and physical properties (MC, LE, 24-h WA and TS, and, long-term water-immersion stability). Each panel was cut to get two MOR/MOE samples (203 mm 76 mm 6.35 mm), five IB samples (51 mm 51 mm 6.35 mm), two LE samples (305 mm 76 mm 6.35 mm), two 24-h WA/TS samples (150 mm 150 mm 6.35 mm), and, two long-term stability samples (150 mm 150 mm 6.35 mm). Tests for mechanical properties, LE, WA and TS were conducted according to ASTM D1037 (ASTM, 1996). Thickness measurements were done at the very-edge (VE with half the 4.8 mm gauge tip placed on the sample edge), edge (E exactly entire gauge tip placed on the sample edge), 2.54 cm from edge (2.54 cm), and center point (CEN) of each sample. Four measurements along the four sides of each sample were taken at the VE, E, and 2.54 cm positions to get average values for each sample. Long-term water-immersion tests were conducted to investigate the time-dependent characteristics of WA and TS.

4 82 industrial crops and products 29 (2009) Samples were oven-dried for 24 h first to provide a uniform initial condition and the initial weight and thickness after oven drying were measured. Samples were then soaked in water followed with thickness and weight measurements every 24 h till the equilibrium state. All samples were oven-dried at the end of testing for actual MC determination. Test results were compared with the corresponding values of grade M3 wood-based particleboards in ANSI A (ANSI, 1999) Data analysis Duncan s multiple range tests for pair-wise comparison was used to test the effect of various treatments using SAS (SAS Institute Inc., NC). Simple linear regression analysis was also performed to assess the significance of linear relationship of relevant variables. 3. Result and discussion 3.1. Mechanical properties In general, the introduction of wax did not bring evident negative effects to bagasse particleboard on bending strength, MOR (Table 1). On the other hand, certain positive effects on MOR were observed, especially for the 3% resin content system. For example, a 60% increase (from 16.0 to 25.5 MPa) on MOR was obtained after introducing 1% wax to the system. However, further regression analysis showed that increasing wax content did not change MOR linearly for both 3 and 5% resin content systems (P = and 0.399, respectively). Similar to MOR, wax caused no negative influence to bending modulus, MOE (Table 1). There was no significant linear relationship between wax content and MOE (P = and for 3 and 5% resin content systems, respectively). Data in the study also showed that MOR and MOE values of all waxed BPBs (except the BPB with 3% resin and 1.75% wax) were higher than the standard values for the grade M3 wood-based particleboard (MOR = 16.5 MPa and MOE = 2.75 GPa, respectively). There is no obvious differ- ence on bending data observed between both resin content groups. The introduction of wax had somewhat negative effects on IB strength of BPBs. It can be observed from Table 1 that the decrease of IB was significant when more wax (2.5 or 3.75%) was added compared to the control boards (no wax). For example, an 18% decrease (from 1.02 to 0.84 MPa) was seen in the 5% resin content system when wax content was increased to 3.75%. Therefore, a large amount of wax should be avoided for bagasse particleboards in order to achieve better IB strength. However, the decrease of IB was not significant when moderate wax (1 or 1.75%) was used. It is noticeable, also, that the IB values for all boards were significantly higher than the standard minimum value (0.55 MPa). Therefore, wax could be considered as a no-negative modifier if its content is well controlled to a moderate level. Regression analysis showed that significant linear relationship between wax content and IB existed in both 3 and 5% resin system (P = and 0.013, respectively) at the 5% significance level. The relationship offers a prediction tool for industrial practice Linear expansion It can be seen from data shown in Table 2 that LE values after 24-h water soaking decreased significantly after adding wax into system in both resin content systems (from 0.52 and 0.28% to <0.21 and <0.24%, respectively). The result implies that the introduction of wax could help improve the linear expansion of bagasse particleboards which is a critical property for product targeted for floor lamination applications. Further, LE values decreased stably in both systems with increasing wax content from 1 to 3.75%. Regression analysis showed that a significant linear relationship existed between wax content and LE for the 5% resin content system (P < 0.014), while this relationship was not significant in the 3% resin content system (P = 0.072) at the 5% significance level. Boards made with 5% resin were somewhat better on LE property than ones with 3% as expected. Table1 Mechanical properties of the bagasse particleboards a,b Wax content (%) MOR (MPa) MOE (GPa) IB (MPa) 3% pmdi resin (1.1) B 2.64 (0.25) BC 0.86 (0.06) BCD (2.4) A 2.89 (0.30) ABC 0.86 (0.16) BCDE (2.0) A 2.55 (0.41) C 0.77 (0.06) CDE (1.1) A 3.28 (0.15) AB 0.77 (0.03) DE (1.9) A 3.43 (0.28) A 0.72 (0.08) E 5% pmdi resin (2.3) A 3.35 (0.84) AB 1.02 (0.17) A (4.0) A 3.41 (0.41) A 0.98 (0.14) AB (3.9) A 3.29 (0.48) AB 0.91 (0.15) ABC (1.5) A 3.21 (0.18) ABC 0.82 (0.18) CDE (4.4) A 3.19 (0.53) ABC 0.84 (0.17) BCDE a Within the same column, mean values followed by different capital letters are significantly different at P < b Data in parentheses are standard deviations. Table 2 Linear expansion (LE) properties of the bagasse particleboards a,b Wax content (%) WA c (%) LE (%) 3% pmdi resin (0.2) A 0.52 (0.06) A (0.8) BC 0.21 (0.01) CD (0.4) BC 0.18 (0.03) CD (0.9) BC 0.17 (0.00) CD (4.8) C 0.14 (0.02) D 5% pmdi resin (20.4) B 0.28 (0.05) B (9.0) C 0.24 (0.10) BC (2.1) C 0.17 (0.02) CD (1.5) C 0.13 (0.02) D (1.1) C 0.14 (0.01) D a Within the same column, mean values followed by different capital letters are significantly different at P < b Data in parentheses are standard deviations. c WA means water absorption.

5 industrial crops and products 29 (2009) Table3 Twenty-four-hour water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS) properties of the bagasse particleboards a,b,c Wax content (%) WA (%) TS VE (%) TS E (%) TS 2.54 cm (%) TS CEN (%) 3% pmdi resin (5.9) A 67.8 (3.6) A 67.2 (3.4) A 47.0 (4.6) A 42.1 (5.0) A (2.7) CD 30.4 (3.3) CD 30.1 (3.4) CD 18.3 (3.1) CD 16.9 (1.6) CDE (4.5) C 35.3 (4.4) BC 34.9 (4.5) BC 21.0 (3.4) C 17.9 (2.8) CD (1.1) CD 32.1 (1.2) CD 31.5 (1.1) CD 17.5 (0.5) CDE 19.7 (1.2) C (2.5) CD 28.4 (3.4) CDE 28.1 (3.4) CDE 15.8 (2.2) CDE 11.2 (0.2) EF 5% pmdi resin (9.7) B 40.7 (12.2) B 40.3 (11.6) B 27.3 (8.3) B 26.6 (8.1) B (2.4) CD 21.4 (2.2) E 21.4 (2.2) E 13.0 (2.4) DE 11.1 (2.4) EF (2.8) D 21.2 (2.6) E 21.0 (2.3) E 11.7 (2.2) E 10.1 (3.1) F (4.7) CD 21.3 (5.1) E 21.2 (5.2) E 14.0 (3.3) DE 13.4 (3.5) DEF (2.4) CD 26.3 (2.2) DE 26.0 (2.2) DE 16.2 (2.2) CDE 14.4 (1.8) CDEF a Subscripts VE, E, 2.54 cm and CEN mean the data were collected from very-edge, edge, 2.54 cm, and center positions of the boards, respectively. b Within the same column, mean values followed by different capital letters are significantly different at P < c Data in parentheses are standard deviations. It is noted that all wax-sized LE values were successfully controlled under the maximum acceptable LE, 0.35%, in the ANSI A The maximum LE value, 0.52%, occurred in the 3% pmdi boards without wax Twenty-four-hour water absorption and thickness swelling In general, the introduction of wax improved the 24-h water absorption for bagasse particleboards as shown in Table 3. With an initial mean moisture content of 4.5%, the WA values of BPBs without wax are 57.1 and 34.2% for both resin content systems after 24-h water soaking. The values decreased significantly to 19.4 and 15.6%, respectively, with use of wax. There was no significant difference observed, however, among four different wax contents according to pre-wise comparison (from 1 to 3.75%). The observations were also supported by the WA data from LE experiments (list in Table 2). Even though WA values from two tests were not completely comparable due to different sample size (150 mm 150 mm 6.35 mm for WA/TS test vs. 305 mm 76 mm 6.35 mm for LE test), the trend was analogous. Similar to WA, 24-h thickness swelling of bagasse particleboards was also improved by wax addition (Table 3). As shown in Table 3, TS values of BPBs with different wax contents decreased significantly compared to the corresponding values from wax-free BPBs at each of four testing points. Pairwised comparison, however, showed that wax content had no significant influence on TS of wax-treated BPBs within each category (Table 3). It is noted that TS values at very-edge (TS VE ) and at edge (TS E ) were very similar, but they were both obviously higher than TS values at 2.54 cm (TS 2.54 cm ) and at center (TS CEN ). This observation indicates that special edge-sealing is necessary for bagasse particleboards in lamination application. Otherwise, the TS difference between edge and non-edge point of board would cause quality problem (e.g., uneven floor surface due to edge swelling). Compared with the standard specifications (ANSI, 1999) for wood-based particleboard, the 24-h thickness swelling of BPBs failed to satisfy the M3 grade TS requirement (i.e., 8%). It is worth considering the difference between the two raw materials wood and bagasse. Wood consists of comparatively uniform fibers and has enough hydroxyls on the surface to form strong bonds with UF, PF or pmdi resins. Thus it is relatively easy to resist water or humidity impregnation. While cane stalk is composed of sucrose-rich pith and a lignocellulosic rind, quantitative non-fiber substances may exist in bagasse which gives BPB a large water-absorbing property. In addition, bagasse has lower bulk density than wood and a higher compression ratio during mat consolidation potentially leads to larger internal stresses, which tend to worsen the dimensional stability of BPBs. Therefore, additional work is still needed to improve the dimensional stability of bagasse composites. Removal of the pith fiber through mechanical means during bagasse processing may help improve overall fiber quality and final board properties. Even though difference between experimental TS results and standard specification existed, it is noticeable that TS values of some boards made under specific conditions were very close to the standard. For example, TS CEN values of 5% pmdi boards with 1 and 1.75% wax were only 11.1 and 10.1%, respectively, compared to the 8% standard value. As expected, boards made with 5% resin were generally better on this property that ones with 3% resin Long-term water absorption and thickness swelling Long-term dimension stability experiment was designed to investigate the time-dependent characteristics of water absorption and thickness swelling. From long-term data, relevant property parameters of boards under the equilibrium state were obtained. Since the entire properties of the 5% pmdi BPBs were better than those of the 3% pmdi panels and higher wax content levels did not offer positive effects on discussed properties, the following discussion on the long-term WA and TS experiments is only on the 5% pmdi BPBs with comparative lower wax contents (i.e., from 1 to 2.5%).

6 84 industrial crops and products 29 (2009) Fig. 2 The equilibrium water absorption and thickness swelling as a function of the 24-h WA and TS. WA EQU :WA at the equilibrium state; WA 24 : WA after 24-h soaking; and TS EQU : TS at the equilibrium state; TS 24 : TS after 24-h soaking. Fig. 1 Water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS) of the 5% pmdi-bonded particleboards as a function of soaking time. (a) WA, (b) TS at center points and (c) TS of boards with 1% wax content. Fig. 1a shows the increasing trend of WA as a function of water soaking time. WA increased quickly during the first 96 h and then leveled off, approaching the equilibrium state. Fig. 1a also shows that moderate wax could improve WA (e.g., boards with 1% wax with the comparative lower WA). However, lin- early increasing wax content did not improve the long-term WA of boards linearly, which is also supported by the 24-h WA data. The typical trend of the long-term TS under different wax contents is shown in Fig. 1b using data from center point, TS CEN, as an example. Fig. 1c shows the long-term TS trend at four different testing points of boards with 1% wax level. Similar to long-term WA, TS of the center point increased quickly during the first 96 h and approached the equilibrium after 144 or 168 h water immersion (Fig. 1b). According to the plot, wax was effective to improve the long-term TS of boards but the content should be control to a moderate level. Fig. 1c shows that the long-term TS along the edge of boards were still higher than their inner or center parts. It implies that measures such as edge-sealing might be effective in improving BPB s TS stability. Regression analysis was conducted to assess the linear relationships between the equilibrium and 24-h water soaking WA, and between the equilibrium and 24 h TS. Such relationship allows predicting long-term water-immersion behaviors of BPB with short-term soaking data. The result is shown in Fig. 2, where TS data at 2.54 cm points (i.e., TS 2.54 )ispresented as a typical sample. It is observed that significant linear relationships existed between the equilibrium and 24-h WA, and between the equilibrium and 24-h TS. Simultaneously, the positive correlation hints that initial larger WAs or TSs mean larger equilibrium state WAs and TSs for a given board type. It is mentioned in Section 3.3 that the 24-h TS of BPBs failed to satisfy the M3 grade TS requirement (i.e., 8%). In long-term TS experiment, however, some TS values under specific conditions are found to be able to satisfy the standard. For example, 24-h TS mean values at center points of boards with 1% wax were lower than 8% (Fig. 1c). This observation might imply the appropriate oven-dry treatment (no sample oven drying prior to the 24-h TS experiments) could partly improve TS property of the finished boards.

7 industrial crops and products 29 (2009) Conclusions Dimensional stability is one of the key factors that determine in-service performance bagasse particleboard. A factorial experiment was conducted to measure the effects of wax content and pmdi resin content on particleboard dimension stability and mechanical properties. Wax-sizing had no evident negative effects on the bending properties of MDI-bonded bagasse particleboards under both pmdi resin contents. It brought slightly negative effects on IB, but the negative effects could be controlled if moderate wax was used. The MOR, MOE and IB values all met the minimum specifications of M3 grade in the ANSI standard. The introduction of wax helped improve the linear expansion of bagasse particleboards for both resin contents and all wax-sized LE values satisfied maximum acceptable LE standard. A significant linear relationship existed between wax content and LE for the 5% resin content systems. Wax could improve 24-h water absorption and thickness swelling for bagasse particleboards. Wax content levels, however, did not significantly influence 24-h WA and TS. The TS values differed significantly between edge and center part of boards suggested the requirement of special edge-sealing for bagasse particleboards in application. TS values failed to meet the 8% TS standard value, but some of them were very close to the standard value when 5% resin and 1% wax was applied. Wax-sizing showed its active effect on the longterm water-resistant property of BPBs. A significant linear relationship was found between equilibrium and 24-h WA, and between equilibrium and 24-h TS, which could help predict long-term water-immersion behaviors of BPB with short-term soaking data. The entire properties of the 5% pmdi BPBs were better than those of the 3% pmdi panels as expected. references American National Standard Institute (ANSI), Particleboard. ANSI A Composite Panel Association, Gaithersburg, MD, pp American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Standard Test Methods for Evaluating Properties of Wood-based Fiber and Particle Panel Materials. ASTM D a. ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA. Bueso, J.G., Westin, M., Torgilsson, R., Olesen, P.O., Simonson, R., Composites made from acetylated lignocellulosic fibers of different origin. Holz als Roh-und werkstoff. 58, Cai, Z.Y., Wu, Q.L., Lee, J.N., Hiziroglu, S., Influence of board density, mat construction, and chip type on performance of particleboard made from eastern redcedar. Forest Prod. J. 54, Chow, P., Bao, Z.Z., Youngquist, J.A., Rowell, R.M., Effects of two fiber treatments on properties of hemlock hardboard. Forest Prod. J. 46 (7/8), FAO Statistics, Major Food and Agricultural Commodities and Producers, online at (consulted January 25, 2006). Han, G., Wu, Q., Comparative properties of sugarcane rind and wood strands for structural composite manufacturing. Forest Prod. J. 54 (12), Heebink, B.G., Wax in particleboards. In: Maloney, T.M. (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Particleboard/Composite Materials Symposium. Washington State University, Pullman, WA, pp Lin, C.J., Hiziroglu, S., Kan, S.M., Lai, H.W., Manufacturing particleboard panels from betel palm (Areca catechu Linn.). J. Mater. Process. Technol. 197, Nada, A., Hassan, M.L., Recycled newsprint as a fibre source for low-density bagasse particleboard manufacture. J. Sci. Ind. Res. 58, Paturau, J.M., By-products of the Sugar Cane Industry, 3rd edition. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Rowell, R.M., A new generation of composite materials from agro-based fibers. In: Prasas, P.N., et al. (Ed.), Polymers and Other Advanced Materials: Emerging Technologies and Business Opportunity. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Frontiers of Polymers and Advanced Materials, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. pp Rowell, R.M., Keany, F.M., Fiberboards made from acetylated bagasse fiber. Wood Fiber 23 (1), Suzuki, H., Takahashi, H., Endoh, K., On water absorbability of dry process fiberboard. J. Jpn. Wood Res. Soc. 22 (10), Talavera, F.J.F., Guzman, J.A.S., Richter, H.G., Duenas, R.S., Quirarte, J.R., Effect of production variables on bending properties, water absorption and thickness swelling of bagasse/plastic composite boards. Ind. Crop Prod. 26, 1 7. Wu, Q., Comparative properties of bagasse particleboard. In: Zhou, D., et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Utilization of Agricultural and Forest Residue. Nanjing, China, pp