Utilisation of Poplar for Wood Composites

To meet the growing shortages of industrial wood, large scale plantations of poplars have been raised in the country. Poplar wood possesses high timber and fibre value for industrial applications. Several studies on different utilization aspects of Poplar, including its physical and mechanical properties, wood working and carving quality, and its suitability for plywood, hardboard, particle board and laminated wood etc., have been undertaken. The wood is now extensively used in the manufacture of plywood, match boxes and packing cases etc. With increasing availability of Poplar wood in coming years, it is necessary to study in detail clone-wise properties and utilization of Poplar species for diversifying the use of Poplar wood. This paper describes the recent research and development work carried out on Poplar wood utilization for reconstituted wood products at this Institute.