Hardboard, also called high-density fiberboard (HDF), is a type of

fiberboard Fiberboard (American English) or fibreboard (British English) is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers. Types of fiberboard (in order of increasing density) include particle board or low-density fiberboard (LDF), med ...

, which is an engineered wood product. It is used in furniture and in the construction industry.

Description

Hardboard is similar to

particle board Particle board, also known as chipboard or low-density fiberboard, is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood chips and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded. Particle board is often confused with ...

and

medium-density fiberboard Medium-density fibreboard (MDF) is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibres, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming it into panels by applying high te ...

, but is denser and much stronger and harder because it is made out of exploded

wood fiber Wood fibres (also spelled wood fibers, see spelling differences) are usually cellulosic elements that are extracted from trees and used to make materials including paper. The end paper product (paper, paperboard, tissue, cardboard, etc.) dictate ...

s that have been highly compressed. Consequently, the density of hardboard is or more and is usually about . It differs from particle board in that the bonding of the wood fibers requires no additional adhesive, the original lignin in the wood fibers sufficing to bond the hardboard together, although resin is often added. Hardboard is produced in either a wet or dry process. The wet process, known as the Mason Method, leaves one smooth side and one textured side, while the dry processed hardboard is smooth on both sides.

Masonite Masonite is a type of hardboard, a kind of engineered wood, which is made of steam-cooked and pressure-molded wood fibers in a process patented by William H. Mason. It is also called Quartrboard, Isorel, hernit, karlit, torex, treetex, and ...

is produced using the wet process only.

History

A product resembling hardboard was first made in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1898 by hot pressing waste paper.Akers, 1966, p. x In the 1900s, fiber building board of relatively low density was manufactured in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In the early 1920s, improved methods of compressing wet wood pulp at high temperatures resulted in a higher density product.

Uses

Unlike solid wood, hardboard is very homogeneous with no grain. A wood veneer can be glued onto it to give the appearance of solid

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

. Other overlays include Formica, laminated papers, ceramics, and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

. It has many uses, such as a substrate. It is used in

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

, flooring, furniture, home appliances, automobiles and cabinetry, and is popular among acrylic and oil painters as a painting surface due to its economical price (though it must be coated with

gesso Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...

or canvas before use). Hardboard has often been used as the surface material in clipboards, especially older models. It is also used as the final layer in many skateboard ramps and the half-pipe. Hardboard is also used extensively in theatrical environments, often used as the final painted surface of a stage and on walking surfaces of constructed scenery. Hardboard is also used to make puzzles, game boards, and other toys. Tempered hardboard is hardboard that has been coated with a thin film of linseed oil and then baked; this gives it more water resistance, impact resistance, hardness, rigidity and tensile strength. An earlier tempering process involved immersing the board in linseed oil or

tung oil Tung oil or China wood oil is a drying oil obtained by pressing the seed from the nut of the tung tree (''Vernicia fordii''). The oil and its use are believed to have originated in ancient China and appear in the writings of Confucius from ab ...

until it was 5 to 6 percent saturated, and heating to . Tempered hardboard is used in construction siding.

Perforated hardboard, also called pegboard, is tempered hardboard that has a uniform array of holes in it, into which tool-hanging hooks or store fixtures can be placed. Hardboard has become less popular in the construction industry in recent years due to new environmental targets to procure more sustainable temporary protection materials.

Citations

Works cited

* Akers, L. E. (1966). ''Particle Board and Hardboard''. Oxford: Pergamon Press. . * Frane, J. T. (1994). ''Craftsman's Illustrated Dictionary of Construction Terms''. Carlsbad, CA: Craftsman Book. .

External links