In this project, a comprehensive experiment studied the impact of wax type, wax content, wax heating temperature and wax molecular weight on OSB panel performance. It shows that to allow tall oil, hydrogenated soybean wax, linseed oil, and low density polyethylene (LDPE) to be used for OSB, further work is needed. We need to add wax in the OSB process; otherwise panel dimensional stability will be ruined. There is an optimal wax content of around 1% in OSB production. The wax content in OSB panel did not need to be higher than 1%. With the waxes tested, wax heating temperature should be higher than 90°C. At a fixed wax heating temperature, optimal wax molecular weight is 520 Daltons for OSB application. Applying high molecular weight wax (600 Daltons) on panel surface may help to improve panel bending strength.
The experiment shows that partial substitution of slack wax with LDPE at the OSB panel surface layer may be feasible.
Experimental results also show that using contact angle and surface tension tests may help us to screen waxes for OSB panel application.
Based on the experimental data, one should handle different waxes in different ways. By engineering wax application parameters one can develop a cost effective way to produce composite panels to meet dimensional stability requirement. Further testing on the feasibility of using contact angle and surface tension to differentiate wax should be conducted. Emulsifying low density polyethylene should be further investigated. Further research is also needed to verify how wax operational parameters affect panel strength.