Within-panel variability and selected property relationships of particleboard from single- and mixed-species processes

This study was part of a large particleboard project, which investigated th e influence of species variation on the variability of particleboard proper ties. The first paper examined the between-panel variability of particleboa rd properties from one single- and one mixed-species process.(1) This paper reports the comparison of within-panel variability and inter-property rela tionships of the same particleboard. Similar to the between-panel variabili ty,(1) within-panel standard deviation of density, linear expansion (LE), m odulus of elasticity (MOE), modulus of rupture (MOR), and internal bond (IB ) of the mixed-species particleboard was either less than or equal to that of the single-species counterpart. However, thickness swell (TS) was still more variable in the mixed-species panel. Stronger correlations existed bet ween MOR and MOE, MOR and IB, and IB and TS for the mixed-species particleb oard, because of the influence of species variation in the manufacturing pr ocess and the unique structure of the panel.