MANILA, Philippines - Quality cement-bonded boards (CBB) can be made out of agricultural wastes such as bamboo shavings and cornstalk.
This was found in a study done by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI).
Usually made from agro forest materials, CBBs are commonly used as cabinet, ceilings, interior partition walls, and exterior panels.
Such boards are generally known to be resistant to termite and fungal attack, fire, and water drainage. They also provide excellent sound and thermal insulation.
In its new study, FPRDI developed CBBs from bamboo and cornstalk.
“These boards have shown good properties and met required standards in laboratory tests. We based the standards on a previously developed wood wall cement board (WWCB) made of yemane (Camelina arborea),” said Dr. Dwight Eusebio, head of FPRDI’s Composite Products section, as reported by Paula Bianca Ferrer.
The CBBs passed tests on such properties as static bending, nail head pull-through, thickness swelling, and water absorption, Eusebio added.
Static bending is how much weight a CBB can endure without getting damaged. Nail head pull-through, as the name suggests, measure the strength of a board when a nail is pulled through it.
Water absorption property is useful if the boards are used as exterior panels or interior partition walls in the house.
For more information, contact Dr. Dwight Eusebio at telephone numbers (049) 536-2377/2586 or through fprdi@dost.gov.ph.