VACUUM-PRESSURE SOAK PLUS OVENDRY AS AN ACCELERATED-AGING TEST FOR WOOD-BASED PANEL PRODUCTS

Vacuum-pressure soak (VPS) at room temperature was investigated as an alternative to the hot water soak and steaming steps in the current AS TM D 1037 accelerated-aging tests. Oriented strandboard, flakeboard, i socyanate-bonded particleboard, and hardboard siding were included. Th e effects of steaming and cyclic hot water soak plus ovendry (OD) expo sure were also investigated. For the phenolic-bonded flakeboard, the v arious alternative exposures had essentially the same effect on static bending and in-plane shear propel-ties as the standard test. For the other materials, the exposures that were closest to the standard far t hese materials were four cycles of VPS plus steam plus OD and four cyc les of hot water soak (93 degrees C) plus OD. The 93 degrees C tempera ture was greater than that used in the soaking step of the standard te st (49 degrees C). Four cycles of VPS at room temperature plus OD and six cycles of steam (93 degrees C) plus OD were the least severe expos ures. The hot wafer soak plus OD was the most likely candidate as an a lternative to the six-cycle test because it was the simplest and least time consuming.