Holz Roh Werkst (2008) 66: 5–10
DOI 10.1007/s00107-007-0194-4
ORIGINALARBEITEN · ORIGINALS
Evaluation on some finishing properties of oil palm plywood
Othman Sulaiman · Rokiah Hashim · Razak Wahab · Hashim Wan Samsi ·
Azmy Hj. Mohamed
Published online: 27 July 2007
© Springer-Verlag 2007
Abstract Oil palm is the largest and most important plan-
tation crop in Malaysia. The oil palm generally lasts for
25–30 years before the next replantation is done. Substan-
tial amount of biomass in the form of palm trunk results
from plantation cycle. This resource is simply left on the
ground to decay and is not used as raw material to manu-
facture any kind of value-added products. The objective of
this study was to investigate the possibility of manufacturing
plywood from oil palm trunks and to evaluate some of the
finishing properties of such experimental panels in compar-
ison to those from Shorea sp as control samples. Three-ply
plywood samples were produced from 5 mm thick veneers
of oil palm using urea formaldehyde adhesive. Three types
of chemicals, namely nitrocellulose, pre-catalyzed lacquer
and polyurethane were used to finish experimental panels.
The surface finished with nitrocellulose had the lowest con-
tact angle on raw surface of oil palm plywood and wood.
The average cross cut tape index of oil palm plywood was
comparable to Shorea sp. All finishing materials of oil palm
plywood produced impact rating of 4 except for surface fin-
ished with nitrocellulose while finishing on wood indicated
O. Sulaiman (u) · R. Hashim
School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
11800 Penang, Malaysia
e-mail: othman@usm.my
R. Wahab
Universiti Malaysia Sabah,
88999 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
H. W. Samsi
Forest Research Institute Malaysia,
11800, 52109 Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A. H. Mohamed
Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
48300 Selangor, Malaysia
an impact rating of 3. Oil palm plywood had higher weight
loss compared to Shorea sp. Based on results from contact
angle, cross cut tape index, impact rate test, weathering, and
soil burial test methods it appears that the samples showed
acceptable finishing properties comparable to those of solid
wood.
Bewertung der Oberflächeneigenschaften
von unterschiedlich behandeltem Ölpalmen-Sperrholz
Zusammenfassung Die Ölpalme ist das mengenmäßig
größte und wichtigste Erzeugnis der Plantagen in Malay-
sia. Der Bestand wird in der Regel nach 25–30 Jahren
erneuert und neu angepflanzt. Aufgrund dieses Zyklus
fällt eine beachtliche Menge an Biomasse in Form von
Palmenstämmen an. Diese Ressource bleibt liegen und
verfault und wird nicht als Rohmaterial zur Herstellung
irgendwelcher Erzeugnisse genutzt. Ziel dieser Studie
war es, die Möglichkeiten der Sperrholzherstellung aus
Ölpalmenstämmen zu untersuchen und die Oberflächen-
eigenschaften solcher Versuchsplatten mit Kontrollproben
aus Shorea sp. zu vergleichen. Aus 5 mm dicken Ölpalmen-
Furnieren wurden unter Verwendung von Harnstoff-Form-
aldehydharz dreilagige Sperrholzproben hergestellt. Die
Oberflächen der Versuchsplatten wurden mit den drei Che-
mikalien Nitrocellulose, vorkatalysiertes Beschichtungsma-
terial sowie Polyurethan behandelt. Die mit Nitrocellulose
behandelte, nicht weiter bearbeitete Oberfläche hatte den
kleinsten Kontaktwinkel. Der durchschnittliche Abhebefes-
tigkeitsindex von Ölpalmen-Sperrholz war mit demjenigen
von Shorea sp. vergleichbar. Bis auf die mit Nitrocellu-
lose behandelten Oberflächen wurden alle Materialen zur
Oberflächenbehandlung von Ölpalmen-Sperrholz bei der
Stoßprüfung mit 4 bewertet, wohingegen Holz durchschnitt-
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6 Holz Roh Werkst (2008) 66: 5–10
lich als 3 eingestuft wurde. Der Masseverlust bei Ölpalmen-
Sperrholz war größer als bei Shorea sp. Basierend auf
den Ergebnissen der Kontaktwinkel-, Abhebefestigkeits-,
Stoßprüfungs-, Bewitterungs- und Erdeingrabeversuchsver-
fahren wies das Sperrholz im Vergleich zu Massivholz
tendenziell akzeptable Oberflächeneigenschaften auf.
1 Introduction
Oil palm is one of the most significant plantation crops in
Malaysia partially covering a total area of approximately
3.8 million hectares and producing about 13.35 million
tonnes of palm oil per year (Basiron and Weng 2004). Each
year, Malaysia produces about 90 million tonnes of oil
palm biomass and out of this, 40 million tonnes are in the
form of oil palm frond, empty fruit bunches and oil palm
trunk (MTC 2005). This oil palm biomass is largely left
underutilized and could also be the causes of severe en-
vironmental pollution. Many studies have been conducted
to identify the viable possibilities of using oil palm waste
biomass as a raw material for wood based products such as
medium density fiberboard, pulp and paper and other prod-
ucts (Ramli et al. 2002, Yusof 1997). Oil palm can also be
used to produce plywood or laminated veneer lumber as
value added products. Currently, the potential benefit of oil
palm veneers is primarily confined to inner layers or core
veneer in plywood making. Wood veneer is subsequently
being used as surface and back layer. Plywood products
using oil palm as core veneer were found to provide suffi-
cient strength and to be useful for short term utilization such
as packaging material. Mass utilization of oil palm trunk in
the form of value-added panels may play a significant role
from the point of environmental pollution and sustainable
utilization of natural resources. Utilization of oil palm trunk
for plywood including for the surface and the back had been
tested. However, more research needs to be carried out to
enhance overall quality of final product.
One of the more considerable properties of oil palm ply-
wood is to study the possibility of using it for high value-
added products such as furniture and indoor housing com-
ponents. For such a possibility, the finishing of the material
becomes very important. There are many finishing chemi-
cals for furniture available in the market (Wicks et al. 1999).
The quality, performance and properties of the final finishes
depend on the surface structure, the chemical utilization,
the adhesion of chemical on the surface, surface prepar-
ation and proper applications at various finishing processes
used (Leonard et al. 1983). However, the surface structure of
oil palm may behave differently.
The objective of this study was to investigate the possi-
bility of manufacturing plywood from oilpalm trunks and to
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evaluate some of the finishing properties and compare them
with those of Shorea sp as control samples.
2 Materials and methods
Oil palm trunk representative samples were obtained from
palm oil plantation in Kedah, Malaysia. The samples were
about 25 years old. Oil palm trunk was freshly cut and
peeled using chuckless lathe and converted into 5 mm ve-
neer thickness. The veneers were dried to about 10%–12%
moisture content. The samples were then made into 3-ply
oil palm plywood of 25 cm × 25 cm dimension using urea
formaldehyde resin with a glue spread rate of 230 g/m2
before cold pressed for 5 min and hot pressed at a tempera-
ture of 110 ◦ C using a pressure of 110 kg/m2 for 10 min.
For each finishing type, 10 sample panels were made. The
sample panels were further cut to 4 cm × 9 cm for further
testing. For comparison, the same finishing procedures were
used on wood. In this investigation Shorea sp was used as
control. Shorea sp is widely used in wood based indus-
tries. The same number of panels and replicates were used
for control as those used for oil palm plywood. All sam-
ples including controls were then conditioned at 20 ◦ C ±
65% RH for at least 3 weeks. The samples were then sanded
using belt sander machine grade 280 grit size for 3 times
with equal amount of sanding time and later they were
cut to required sizes. Three types of finishing materials
were chosen in this study; 1) nitrocellulose (Wicks et al.
1999), 2) pre-catalyzed lacquer (Leonard et al. 1983), 3)
polyurethane (Wicks et al. 1999, Meincken et al. 2006). All
finishing materials were obtained and supplied by Polycure
(M) Sdn, Shah Alam, Selangor. Finishing application was
made based on the manufacturer’s recommendation primar-
ily used for finishing wood surface using similar procedures
for all types of finishing materials investigated. The appli-
cation of the finishings was done by brushing. The quality
of the finishing performance was then evaluated using sev-
eral tests such as contact angle, cross cut tape index, impact
rate test, weathering test and soil burial study. The evalua-
tion was based on investigating properties of the finishing
material on the surface.
Contact angle value was used as an indicator for wettabil-
ity of a surface. It is measured based on angle of droplet on
a surface at specified time normally in seconds. The lower
the contact angle with time means that the surface could ab-
sorb more water or other liquid (Kalnins and Feist 1993,
Mahmud and Ahmad 2005). Wettability properties of sur-
face was investigated by estimating contact angle of water
droplet on clear surface of the samples based on work car-
ried out by Yamamoto et al. (1988). It was carried out using
sessile drop technique by dropping 10 µl of distilled water
on oil palm plywood surface. The image of the droplet was
Holz Roh Werkst (2008) 66: 5–10 7

taken using video with time in second recorded. The contact
angles of the droplets were then measured in time series of
0, 5, 20 and 40 s. Fifteen replicate measurements of contact
angle were done on each surface sample. Oil palm plywood
surfaces without any finishing were used as control.
Cross cut tape index was carried out according to ASTM
D3359 (1997). It is a standard test method for measuring
adhesion by means of tape test. The finishing surface was
cut into small squares that form grids using a cutting tool
Cross Hatch Cut Model 295. Pressure sensitive tape was
then placed over the grid. The tape was then removed by
rapidly pulling off the tape as close to an angle of 30◦ as
possible. The grid area was then inspected and given a score
index of 0–5. A score of 5 means that the surface is unaf-
fected by the tape while a score of 0 means that more than
65% of finishing materials were removed from the substrate.
Eight replicates of 4 cm × 9 cm were used for each finishing.
Impact rate test was carried out according to BS3962:
Part 6 (1975). Impact rate test was done by dropping
a weighted ball of 2 m height to the surface of the finishing
chemical. This purposely produced an impact force on the
surface of the material. The appearance on the finish surface
was then given a rating between 0–4. Four denotes that there
is no effect observed on the surface. A rating of 0 will be
given if more than 25% of finish was removed from the area
of indentation. Eight replicates were used for each finishing
type.
Weathering test was carried out according to ASTM
E308-01 (2006). Six samples each from control and finished
oil palm plywood panels size 4 cm × 9 cm were exposed to
indoor room condition and outside in an open condition.
Color measurements CIE L*a*b* using a Chromameter Mi-
nolta CR 300 were taken weekly for 5 weeks.
Soil burial study was conducted to investigate the dura-
bility of the oil palm plywood. It was conducted according
to ASTM1413 D (1979). Fifteen replicate test blocks of size
4 cm × 9 cm were prepared from panels that were finished
with the same procedure as mentioned in an earlier experi-
ment. The samples were then exposed to garden soil for
8 weeks at trial plot, University Science Malaysia, Penang.
Weight loss based on oven dry weight of the samples was
then measured.
A cross cut viewing of finishing on the samples were ob-
served using LEO Supra 50Vp Ultra-High resolution analyt-
ical field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).
3 Results and discussion
The average contact angles of water droplets on the sur-
face of oil palm plywood and Shorea sp. before finishing
and after final finishing with various finishing materials are
given in Table 1. The results showed that the contact angle
on the surface of oil palm plywood is lower than for Shorea
sp. particularly to oil palm plywood before finishing. This
could be due to the rougher surface of oil palm veneer
compared to wood. Finishing materials showed to have im-
proved the contact angle of oil palm plywood. However the
contact angle varied among the finishing materials.
The contact angle of the finishing materials on raw sur-
face is presented in Table 2. The surface finished with nitro-
cellulose had the lowest contact angle on raw surface of oil
palm plywood and wood. Nitrocellulose probably absorbed
easily on oil palm plywood surface.
Figure 1a shows a surface layer of finishing material. As
an example in this Figure, it shows nitrocellulose finishing
on the top surface of oil palm plywood. The finishing mate-
rial forms a smooth top layer. This obviously will improve
the absorption of oil palm plywood. The finishing chemical
seems to be able to block the passageway of water/liquid and

Table 1 Contact angle of water Time (sec) 0 5 10 20 40

droplet on surface of oil palm Finishing materials Contact angle (◦ )
plywood and Shorea sp.
Oil palm Before finishing 34 0 0 0 0
Tabelle 1 Kontaktwinkel eines
plywood (5.5)a
Wassertropfens auf der
Nitrocellulose 44 42 39 35 33
Oberfläche von
(6.6) (4.2) (2.1) (3.8) (3.2)
Ölpalmen-Sperrholz und
Pre-catalyzed lacquer 65 60 60 60 58
Shorea sp.
(8.4) (9.3) (6.2) (5.2) (4.3)
Polyurethane 82 81 81 81 81
(6.4) (5.5) (7.3) (6.5) (5.5)
Shorea sp. Before finishing 83 76 70 69 67
(4.6) (6.4) (3.2) (4.2) (4.3)
Nitrocellulose 44 41 38 34 32
(3.2) (4.9) (3.7) (3.2) (3.7)
Pre-catalyzed lacquer 65 62 62 60 58
(4.4) (5.3) (4.9) (3.9) (3.1)
Polyurethane 82 82 82 82 82
(7.7) (6.6) (5.8) (5.2) (4.9)
a Values in () are the standard deviation

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Table 2 Contact angle, average Contact angle Average Cross Cut Average Impact
cross cut tape index and impact after 40 s (◦ ) Tape Index Rate
rate test Finishing Oil palm Shorea Oil palm Shorea Oil palm Shorea
Tabelle 2 Kontaktwinkel, Materials plywood sp. plywood sp. plywood sp.
durchschnittlicher
Nitrocellulose 15 15 2.0 4.0 3.0 2.0
Abhebefestigkeitsindex und
(2.1)a (1.5) (0.12) (0.24) (0.15) (0.13)
Klassierung beim Stoßversuch
Pre catalyzed lacquer 58 58 4.0 2.0 4.0 2.0
(3.7) (2.8) (0.32) (0.12) (0.0) (0.14)
Polyurethane 26 46 2.0 4.0 4.0 3.0
(2.5) (3.2) (0.11) (0.22) (0.0) (0.17)
a Values in () are the standard deviation

Fig. 1 FESEM micrograph of oil

palm plywood and Shorea sp.
Abb. 1 Mikroskopische
Aufnahmen von
Ölpalmen-Sperrholz und Shorea
sp.

subsequently reduces the absorption of oil palm plywood.
As for comparison Fig. 1b showed a similar finishing ma-
terial (i.e. nitrocellulose) on wood (Shorea sp.). A smooth
layer on the top surface of oil palm plywood and wood
seems to be similar. Some of the finishing chemical able to
penetrate further inside and filled up the parenchyma lumen
for oil palm plywood (Fig. 1a). As for wood the finishing
materials able to penetrate in the vessel and fiber lumen
(Fig. 1b) Parenchyma lumen of oil palm plywood could be
seen being compressed to some extend (Fig. 1c). The com-
pression of lumen did not occur in wood for both vessel and
fiber lumen (Fig. 1a). Vessel and fiber lumen still seem to
maintain as in the original/initial form. The compression of
the oil palm lumen might in this case occur during the hot
press of oil palm plywood making.
Cross cut tape index is normally used to measure the de-
gree of adhesion of the finishing chemical to the substrate.
The results showed that the average cross cut tape index
of oil palm plywood was comparable to the one of wood
(Shorea sp.) (see Table 2). The finishing chemicals could
probably penetrate deeper from the surface and provide bet-
ter adhesion for oil palm plywood compared to wood.

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The result of the impact was observed and rated based Table 4 Weathering study of finished oil palm plywood and Shorea
on a rating code of 0–4. The estimated amounts of finish- sp. exposed to exterior after 5 weeks
Tabelle 4 Ergebnisse eines fünfwöchigen Bewitterungsversuchs
ing materials being chipped out due to this impact were unter Außenbedingungen mit oberflächenbehandeltem Ölpalmen-
observed. The lowest code of 0 will be given if the extent Sperrholz und Shorea sp.
of finishing material chipped out was around 25%. If there Change in colour
are no visible effects on the impact, it will be rated as 4. Finishing Materials ∆L ∆a ∆b ∆E
The results showed that there was no effect of impact on Oil palm Without finishing +9.5 +5.10 +18.0 22.00
the finishing of oil palm plywood (see Table 2). All finishing plywood Nitrocellulose +4.3 −1.05 +5.20 6.22
Pre-catalyzed lacquer −6.95 +1.57 +9.33 11.74
materials produced a rating of 4 except for surface finished Polyurethane −8.21 +4.51 +16.21 18.72
with nitrocellulose. Comparatively finishing on wood sur- Shorea Without finishing +6.15 +5.22 +14.21 15.00
face briefly indicated a lower rating code compared to oil sp. Nitrocellulose +0.28 −4.62 +5.85 9.11
Pre-catalyzed lacquer +0.70 −0.41 +10.37 10.40
palm plywood with a rating code of 3 on average.
Polyurethane −3.44 +1.14 +10.92 11.51
There were no significant changes in color after expo-
sure to internal condition. This is comparatively similar to
wood. As expected, exposure to exterior condition showed Table 5 Soil burial study
Tabelle 5 Ergebnisse des Erdeingrabeversuchs
a significant darker color on the surface (Tables 3 and 4).
The darker color produced was due to the response of the Finishing Materials Weight Loss (%)
surfaces material to UV from exposure to sunlight. Oil palm Nitrocellulose 47.7
plywood (4.5)a
The weight loss method uses unsteriled soil burial as Pre-catalyzed lacquer 40.6
an indication of durability of oil palm plywood. Oil palm (5.4)
plywood showed to have higher weight loss compared to Polyurethane 35.6
(3.2)
Shorea sp. (Table 5). Higher weight loss showed lower dura- Without finishing (control) 50.2
bility of the material. This is expected because oil palm (5.2)
plywood contains a high amount of readily available food Shorea sp. Nitrocellulose 2.86
(0.12)
such as starch. Figure 1d shows the presence of starch gran-
Pre-catalyzed lacquer 0.97
ules in the parenchyma lumen. Starch granules provide an (0.05)
easy source of food for biodeterioration agent. This food Polyurethane 0.9
source promotes growth of biodeterioration agents such as (0.09)
Without finishing (control) 1.3
fungal, bacteria as well as insects. (0.08)
Finishing materials increased the durability especially for a Values in () are the standard deviation
those finished with polyurethane. The finishing materials
seem to provide some surface protection compared to those
without any finishing. However, this increase in durabil- with those having finishing materials applied to the sur-
ity will probably not be permanent. It might be a delay in faces (Feist 1982, 1988).
the deterioration. If the samples were to be exposed longer Oil palm plywood showed to have a high potential to
the deterioration will probably be increased further even be used as another alternative raw material for wood based
industry. With proper finishing schemes the surface of oil
palm plywood could become as good as wood. The results
Table 3 Weathering study of finished oil palm plywood and Shorea certainly showed that oil palm plywood has the required
sp. exposed to indoor after 5 weeks capacity to be a good raw material for wood industries.
Tabelle 3 Ergebnisse eines fünfwöchigen Bewitterungsversuchs un-
ter Innenraumbedingungen mit oberflächenbehandeltem Ölpalmen-
Sperrholz und Shorea sp.
4 Conclusions
Change in colour
Finishing Materials ∆L ∆a ∆b ∆E
The contact angle on the surface of oil palm plywood im-
Oil palm Without finishing +0.30 −0.68 −0.08 0.554
plywood (control) proved significantly after applying the finishing materials.
Nitrocellulose +0.20 −0.50 −0.09 0.60 The degree of adhesion using cross cut tape of oil palm ply-
Pre catalyzed lacquer −0.18 −0.067 −0.117 0.22 wood was as good as wood. Impact rate test on surface of
Polyurethane +0.10 −0.09 −0.13 0.18 oil palm plywood after being finished indicated no apparent
Shorea Without finishing +0.28 +0.28 −0.60 0.65
sp. (control) damage occurred. Surface color change of oil palm plywood
Nitrocellulose −0.28 +0.24 −0.40 0.55 after being finished did not show any changes in color after
Pre catalyzed lacquer −0.38 −0.22 −0.21 0.47 exposure to internal condition. However, oil palm plywood
Polyurethane −0.26 +0.01 +0.09 0.27 showed to be very vulnerable to biodeterioration attack even

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after being finished. All finishing materials (nitrocellulose,
pre-catalyzed lacquer and polyurethane) could be used as
finishing material successfully on oil palm plywood surface
and were comparable to those of wood. The evaluation in-
dicated that the properties of the finishing material on the
surface quality finishes will improve the marketability de-
mand of oil palm trunk as potential raw material. It appears
that if proper finishing processes are used surface character-
istics of oil palm plywood could be as good as those made
from solid wood.
Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge Business Esprit
Sdn. Bhd., Penang, Malaysia for generously providing oil palm veneer
in this research. Sincere acknowledgement is also due to Polycure
(M) Sdn, Shah Alam, Selangor for supplying the finishing chemicals.
Thanks to lab staff in School of Industrial Technology and students
participating in the project.
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