Development and performance of a hot-press machine for particle-board production

Waste management in wood and agricultural processing industries conserves resources, energy, and money. Hot-press machines can help small-scale producers afford essential materials like lamination, composites, and woodworking, but current models struggle with tracking process parameters, frequent maintenance, and productivity loss. This research aim at development of a hot-press machine for composite production. Design for the machine include the frame upper and lower platens, hydraulic-jack-base, and mixing-unit, control-box, mould and mould-plate. The components bought off-shelve were hydraulic-jack, heating-element, thermostat, and pressure-gauge. Design done accordance to standard methods. Fabrication process was done at Works and Maintenance Metal Workshop, University of Ibadan. Agricultural-waste Z.mays-cob were sourced, milled, air dried and sieved and retention on sieve number 2.00mm was used for the composite production. Performance evaluation of the machine was done using 60:40; 70:30 and 80:20, of Z.mays-cob particle and Urea-Formaldehyde as the composite-mix ratio. Density, water-absorption, and thickness-swelling were determined for 2 and 24hours respectively. Optimal temperature was 1200C and regulated with thermostat connected to 1500W heating-element, while 3bar pressure-gauge was incorporated onto a 5ton hydraulic-jack. The board densities were significant. Water-absorption and thickness-swelling were found favourably. The hot-press machine was successfully developed with a cost of $95 and was able to produce composite board suitable for interior usage from agricultural-waste.