NEXT January at Geneva, FAO with the Economic Commission for Europe will be convening an international technical conference on insultation board, hardboard and particle board, commodities which have become so important in building and furniture manufacture since the war. The conference will last approximately two weeks, and will aim at providing a more widespread understanding of the technical and economic problems involved in the manufacture and use of fibreboards and particle boards.
The meetings should furnish an excellent opportunity for discussions between equipment suppliers, board manufacturers and users, and between representatives of technical and industrial laboratories drawn from both producing and consuming areas, upon such important subjects as:
1. product description, nomenclature and definitions
2. world consumption, production and trade
3. raw materials: wood, non-wood, and additives;
4. processes and equipment;
5. economic aspects of production and marketing;
6. properties, application and uses;
7. research needs to enhance future development.
Papers will be presented on many technical and economic aspects of an industry which between 1946 and 1950 doubled its production, has expanded considerably since then and shows promise of further substantial increases in output during the next few years.
The materials with which the conference will be concerned are phenomena of the past thirty years. First on the scene was insulating board, followed shortly afterwards by hardboard. Particle board, in which chips or wood shavings are pressed or extruded in sheets using synthetic resin as a binder, was a fairly recent development and the industry is still in evolution. Mainly on account of the high cost and amount of binding agent required, most particle boards are more expensive than fibreboards but they can be produced on a smaller scale than is usually considered economic for fibreboard manufacture and the capital investment required to establish a unit is normally lower.
Further great expansion in production of all these boards is expected to meet increases in demand in the coming decade. Their production opens up the prospect of better scope for utilization of thinnings and of hitherto little used wood species, as well as absorbing considerable quantities of fibrous waste from other industries - such as bagasse the residual product from sugar-cane grinding operations.
The results of this conference should be to set out clearly the many processes and techniques which are now available for the manufacture of insulation board, hardboard and particle board, as well as to indicate the likely future trend of development in the industries, providing guidance to actual or potential suppliers and consumers alike.
