الفهرس 
Definition of the ProblemOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Due to shortage in local resources of wood it is important to search for
other resources that could substitute solid wood. Date palm leaves’
midribs (DPLM) are available as a cheap secondary product resulting from
annual pruning of palms.
Air-dried DPLM of known species were converted into strips of
10 x 10 mm cross - section . Lumber- like blocks with cross - section 70
x 70 mm and length 420 mm have been produced in a test rig under 4
different levels of pressure and 3 levels of pressing time. The gluing
process was conducted at room temperature using Urea-formaldehyde as a
resin and citric acid as a hardener. Mechanical properties in static bending
(MOR and MOE), compressive strength and shear strength parallel to
grain, nail-pull and hardness were determined. the results indicated that the
strength properties of DPLM blocks were comparable to those of
European Redwood (the common softwood species used in Egypt). The
results showed also that, there is a specific set of pressing conditions at
which the strength properties attain their highest level. The conditions are
9 kg/cm2 pressure and 1 hour pressing time. For this set of conditions the
value of modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity were found to be 70
Nfmm2 and 5915 N/mm2 respectively.
The aforementioned findings open the possibility of manufacture of
lumber-like products of any desired dimensions from DPLM as a
substitute of solid wood