Plywood is incredibly useful, with practical applications that include interior, structural, and exterior projects. It can be used to complete jobs that range from formwork all the way to paneling. But just what is plywood, and how is it made? In this post, we will answer these questions and learn more about why plywood is such a versatile material for outdoor and indoor construction projects alike.
What Is Plywood?
Plywood is a material (wood) manufactured from thin layers or “plies” of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. In the most basic of terms, plywood is made by combining wood veneers together in order to create a flat sheet.
Following are the main steps of plywood manufacturing process.
1. Selection of Log
The first step is the selection of a good log from selected tree wood according to the demand of the type of plywood to be manufactured. This log is known as peeler. Peeler is straight and has a good diameter as large number of layers are expected to make from it.
2. Layer Formation
The large blade is used for the processing of thin layers inside sawmill and made sheets of veneers. A horizontal placement of log under blade is maintained to get a better result. Continuously blade is pressed and several layers are cut into pieces.
3. Exposure to Heat
The sheets are then exposed to heat for removing water content from those. An good dehydration of sheets is confirmed before next step.
4. Gluing
After drying the sheets those are glued together maintaining the system of a different type of plywood. In this step, caution is maintained to get the best result. After patching and grading this gluing takes place. urea formaldehyde and phenol formaldehyde is used for gluing. And Furmecyclox is used for fungal resistance quality.
5. Baking
The glued plywood primary sheets are sent for baking and pressing at required temperature and pressure. The minimum temperature is 140 degree Celsius and pressure is 1.9 MegaPascal.
6. Finishing
Finally, defects of manufactured plywood sheets are solved. Holes, pits or any unfinished edges are given finishing. Also resizing, reshaping takes place.
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Video source: Engineering World
