Panels & Furniture Asia March/April 2023

PANEL MANUFACTURING
quickly became popular, especially in China. After two
years of optimising the concept, Chinese authorities
established a standard Fine OSB for the entire country.
Subsequently, Dieffenbacher received further orders
for Fine OSB plants. To date, Chinese manufacturers
have already placed 10 orders for Fine OSB plants with
Dieffenbacher.
Container OSB: The floor of an ocean freight container
is subject to major stresses. It has to transport heavy
loads through all kinds of climate zones over periods of
weeks or months. Previously, such demands could only
be met by plywood panels made from tropical hardwood
veneers, but these have steadily become scarcer and more
expensive. Container OSB offers a low-cost alternative.
By replacing the central veneers of plywood with an OSB
core, the consumption of costly tropical timber can be
reduced.
1
Because the strength requirements of OSB core board
are greater than for commercially available OSB board,
Dieffenbacher developed a new manufacturing process.
Longer OSB strands are first sorted by new disc screens
and then arranged crosswise in a precise, multilayer
formation. Next, a specially designed press compresses
the mat, enabling a much denser panel. Following
compression, the OSB cores are brought together with
glued veneers on a veneer lay-up station and processed in
a hot press to produce Container OSB.
In the future, it may be possible to manufacture OSB
boards with unprecedented strength, without relying on
additional veneers. This has already been achieved on a
laboratory scale. Successful practical testing could pave
the way for container floor manufacturers to dispense with
the use of tropical veneers.
2
OSB with an advanced core layer: This version of
OSB has traditional OSB surface layers and a core layer
using cheaper, lower quality or readily available wood
assortments. The physical and mechanical properties are
comparable to conventional OSB. To produce OSB with an
advanced core layer, only the preparation of the core layer
material has to be adapted. The strand preparation for
surface layers remains unchanged, and the entire material
flow is comparable to conventional OSB production.
OSB with an advanced core layer gives panel producers
the flexibility to use inexpensive raw materials such as
macro chips, short logs, branches, industrial or recycling
wood and residual wood from sawmills, without
compromising board quality. Especially when using
recycling wood, this type of OSB helps reduce costs
and simultaneously contribute to sustainability and
environmental and climate protection. P
3
Legend
1 Production of Fine OSB
in a continuous press
2 Container OSB
3 OSB with an advanced
core layer
Panels & Furniture Asia | March / April 2023 33