INVESTIGATING THE USE OF VINE PRUNING STALKS (VITIS VINIFERA L. CV. SULTANI) AS RAW MATERIAL FOR PARTICLEBOARD MANUFACTURING

The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of vine pruning (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sultani) in Turkey as an alternative raw material for particleboard production. In Turkey, there are 484.000 hectare areas for vine cultivation. Annually, approximately 2.420.000 ton vine pruning parts residues remained. Every season, large quantities of vine prunings remain as by-products in the field, and unfortunately not utilized properly in related industries. In this study, vine pruning and wood (Scots pine) particles in various proportions were used as the raw material for three-layer flat pressed particleboards. A commercial urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin was used as binder. Small size experimental panels (56 x 56 x 2 cm) were manufactured. Some physical ((thickness swelling (TS), water absorption (WA)) and mechanical ((modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), internal bond (IB) perpendicular screw-holding (PSH, perpendicular to) and lateral screw-holding strengths (SHS, //)) properties of panels were determined. Results indicated that the bending strengths of A, B, C and D panels met the minimum bending strengths value (11.5 N.mm(-2)) required in TS-EN 312-2 (1999) standard for general purpose particleboards.