PLYWOOD

Plywood is made from an odd number of constructional veneers

bonded face to face with the grain running in alternate directions

It shrinks, warps, twists and swells less than ordinary wood and
has great resistance to splitting at the ends
Plywood's main advantage is that by gluing together an odd number of
layers of veneer, a material that is lightweight and workable, yet rigid
and strong can be obtained
plywood can be manufactured in sheets far wider than the trees from
which it was made.
High uniform strength - wood is 25-45 times stronger along the grain than across
the grain. Crossing the adjacent sheets tends to equalise the strength
in all directions.
Ease of fabrication of curved surfaces
One of the important aspects in the manufacture of plywood is that it results in
the conservation of timber by the elimination of the waste.

The manufacture of plywood can be divided into two main stages

The production of veneers
The assembly and pressing of veneers into plywood

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In general however most veneers wether rotary cut or sliced, are cut to
size and squared by a dry clipper, edge jointed, taped or spliced and
graded into cores, cross bands, or face veneers prior to being assembled
for gluing and pressing.



Roller coaters
Curtain coaters
These apply adhesive in a thin film or curtain of adhesive to one side
of the veneer as it passes through the coater.
spray coaters



Urea formaldehyde glues are extensively used for interior and
intermediate grade bonding
Phenol-formaldehyde glues are standard for exterior bonds

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Fillers may be used to assist in reducing penetration of the glues into the wood,
increase its viscosity at the critical time before setting, and tend to fill small
cavities between veneers, thus preventing starved joints. Fillers are usually
finely ground inert minerals such as clay or wood/grain flour finer than 180 mesh.

The pre-press (see Pic 1) which is unheated operates at pressure slightly

below that of the hot-press. Pre-pressing can takes up to 50 sheet at a time,
with a pressing time of 3 to 4 minutes

Hot pressing is carried out in a hydraulic press incorporating multiple heated

Platens between which each individual panel assembly is subjected to heat
and pressure. Hot press pressure for softwood pine plywood usually range
between 1242 to 1380k Pa. Platen temperatures of around 120 degree Celsius are
used and pressing times for panels 3.5 and 22 mm are 2.75 and 9.5 minutes
respectively


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In hot pressing a considerable amount but not all of the water in the glue
line escapes in the form of steam. Moreover, hot pressed panels are often
dipped or sprayed with water immediately after removal from the press in
order to restore the moisture in the face plies. Consequentially, a conditioning
or redrying period is necessary and hot pressed plywood is usually
hot stacked in solid piles for periods ranging from one or two hours to
overnight. In this way the glue joints attain full cure and the moisture
content of the panels is reduced and equalised through out the panels
before further processing is carried out