Abstract
Palm–based medium-density fibreboard (palm-based MDF) comprised of polyurethane prepolymer (pPU) and palm oil empty fruit bunch fibre (EFB) was prepared. The pPU was a reacting mixture in acetone consisted of palm kernel oil-based monoester polyol (PKO-p) and 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) with polyethylene glycol (Mw of 200 kDa, PEG200) as the plastisizer. EFB with size ranging from 250 μm to 500 μm (MDF S1), 500 μm to 1000 μm (MDF S2) and 1000 μm to 2000 μm (MDF S3) was investigated. The flexural strength and modulus increased with decreasing fibre size with optimum strength and modulus at 46.7 MPa and 1923 MPa respectively. Higher glass transition temperature (Tg at 77 °C) was observed in MDF S1 compared to MDF S3 (Tg at 67 °C). FTIR spectrum indicated possible formation of urethane linkage between the reactive NCO active groups in pPU with OH group from cellulose constituent in EFB fibre.