This article reports on the use of carbon fiber (CF) and
waste rubber (WR) as reinforcing agents for plywood. The
aim of this study was to determine the effects of three variable
parameters: CF content, WR content, and CF length,
on the mechanical and physical properties of the plywood.
The properties evaluated were mechanical properties in
terms of modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity
(MOE), and impact strength (IS), and physical properties
including water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling
(TS). Beech (Fagus orientalis) veneers having 1.8-mm thickness
were used in the production of 7-ply plywoods. The
CF and WR layers were used in the middle (core) layer of
plywood samples. Bonding of the wood layers was done
using urea-formaldehyde resin (160 g/m2), and to form the
CF andWR layers and bond them towood veneers, methylene
diphenyl isocyanate resin (150 g/m2) were used. Based
on the results, the CF was found to have significant effect
on the mechanical properties at 99% confidence level. In
addition, both the mechanical and physical performances
of plywoods improved with increase in the CF content and
length. At a certain amount of the CF, the panels with longer
(18 cm) CF showed superior mechanical properties. As
it expected, the MOR values considerably reduced with the
addition of WR, while the MOE, IS,WA, and TS of the specimens
improved when compared with the control. The IS of
the samples increased as much as 32.5% with the addition
of 30 wt% of the WR.