Abstract

Aim: The study was carried out to examine the use of coconut sawdust and tomato stem particles as wood at varying blending proportion to produce tomato particle based board.

Materials and Methods: Boards of dimensions 350mm by 350mm by 6mm were produced from cement and wood (Coconut sawdust, tomato stem particles) at different blending proportion and addition of additive (CaCl₂ at different concentration). The physical properties which included water absorption and thickness swelling and mechanical properties which included Modulus of Rupture (MOR) and Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) were investigated. Thickness swelling and water absorption were investigated at 24 and 48 hours.

Results: The results showed that boards exhibited mean values of 0.50% to4.16% and 2.12% to 7.00% respectively of thickness swelling at 24 hours and 48 hours respectively and 13.62% to 25.16% and 17.62% to 29.07% of water absorption at 24 hours and 48 hours respectively. The boards also exhibited means of 1.00N/mm² to 5.25N/mm² and 339.48N/mm² to 3425.73N/mm² for MOR and MOE respectively. Results showed that increase in the tomato particle content cause increase in water absorption, thickness swelling as it shows highest water absorption and thickness swelling values.

Conclusion: It was concluded that tomato stem and coconut sawdust can be used to produce cement bonded boards after pretreatment with hot water and preferably both sieved.

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