Engineering Composites Made from Wood and Chicken Feather Bonded with UF Resin Fortified with Wollastonite: A Novel Approach

Hamid R Taghiyari; Roya Majidi; Ayoub Esmailpour; Younes Sarvari Samadi; Asghar Jahangiri; Antonios N Papadopoulos

doi:10.3390/polym12040857

Engineering Composites Made from Wood and Chicken Feather Bonded with UF Resin Fortified with Wollastonite: A Novel Approach

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Apr 7;12(4):857. doi: 10.3390/polym12040857.

Authors

Hamid R Taghiyari¹, Roya Majidi², Ayoub Esmailpour², Younes Sarvari Samadi³, Asghar Jahangiri¹, Antonios N Papadopoulos⁴

Affiliations

¹ Wood Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Materials Engineering and New Technologies, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran 1678815811, Iran.
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran 1678815811, Iran.
³ Faculty of Wood Technology and Construction, Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences, Rosenheim 83024, Germany.
⁴ Laboratory of Wood Chemistry and Technology, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, International Hellenic University, GR-661 00 Drama, Greece.

Abstract

Wood-composite panel factories are in shortage of raw materials; therefore, finding new sources of fibers is vital for sustainable production. The effects of chicken feathers, as a renewable source of natural fibers, on the physicomechanical properties of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and particleboard panels were investigated here. Wollastonite was added to resin to compensate possible negative effects of chicken feathers. Only feathers of the bodies of chickens were added to composite matrix at 5% and 10% content, based on the dry weight of the raw material, particles or fibers. Results showed significant negative effects of 10%-feather content on physical and mechanical properties. However, feather content of 5% showed some promising results. Addition of wollastonite to resin resulted in the improvement of some physical and mechanical properties. Wollastonite acted as reinforcing filler in resin and improved some of the properties; therefore, future studies should be carried out on the reduction of resin content. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) demonstrated the formation of new bonds between wollastonite and carbohydrate polymers in the wood cell wall. It was concluded that chicken feathers have potential in wood-composite panel production.

Keywords: cell-wall polymers; chicken feather; composite panels; engineering materials; natural materials; thermal conductivity coefficient; wollastonite; wood.