The OSB-material
The need for new wood-fibre materials has led to materials such as “glulam”, plywood, particle boards and fibre boards. One of the most successful materials is Oriented Strand Board (OSB) which consists of long slender wood chips which have been pressed together under high pressure at a high temperature.
The wood composite OSB is a “success story”. The market for the material has grown to more than SEK 100 billion, since it was introduced in the 1980s.
Important reasons for the success of the OSB-material on the market are the technical advantages which result from the method of manufacture with the pressing under high pressure of a random mat of long wood chips. As a result of the pressing, the fibre density is higher than in sawn timber and the OSB-material is thus stronger. The random distribution of the fibres gives the OSB-material a uniform quality and profiles of the material are more form-stable than faultless massive wood. In addition to its technical advantages, the OSB-material is cheaper than sawn timber as a result of the efficient utilisation of the forest raw material. Hitherto, it has however only been possible to press the OSB-material to plane boards.