USB instead of OSB?

The Büsgen Institute at the University of Göttingen/DE and Egger Holzwerkstoffe, Wismar/DE, have developed USB panels (unoriented strand board) consisting of soft deciduous wood. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The property profile of these panels lies between that of OSB and conventional particleboards.

As a result, both the pure decidious wood-USB as well as the mixed panels made of deciduous and pine show mostly equal or even better properties than pure pine-USB, researchers at the university say. In addition, VOC emissions (volatile organic compounds) are lower for the panels containing deciduous wood.

In particular, alder was positively noticed in the sum of all the properties: These panels have the lowest VOC and formaldehyde emissions and show more transverse tensile strength than pine boards. Yet they have a flexural strength comparable to pine OSB 3 (18 N/mm²) at swelling values lower than those of the pine panels.