Inter-laboratory comparison of formaldehyde emission from particleboard using ASTM D 6007-02 method

An inter-laboratory comparison of formaldehyde emission (FE) from laminated (PL) and uncoated (P2) particleboard (PB) with 16 mm thick-E1, used for non-structural and interior applications such as furniture materials and supplied from a commercial plant in the Czech Republic, was performed in two laboratories using the American small test chamber (ASTM D 6007-02). The results showed highly significant differences between the laboratories for PL (P<0.001), and not significant for P2 (P=0.33), and the differences between samples were significant for P2 and PL (P<0.05). The FE values ranged between 0.056 and 0.090 and from 0.088 to 0.099 ppm for PL and from 0.129 to 0.223 and from 0.175 to 0.182 ppm for P2 as measured in laboratories 1 and 2, respectively. There was a good correlation (R ²=0.84) between the formaldehyde values measured for both types of particleboards in the two laboratories. Most of the formaldehyde values were in agreement with the requirements of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulation. Furthermore, the results suggested that there was a higher homogeneity between the samples in laboratory 2 than in laboratory 1. The variation was related to the chamber conditions and sampling as well as inter-panel variations.