In a stuffed furniture industry, located in the Piracicaba, SP, Brazil, panel samples (plywood and OSB) were randomly collected to determine bending strength and stiffness properties (MOR and MOE) in order to compare them and evaluate the possibility of direct substitution of plywood, traditionally used in furniture structural parts, for OSB. The mechanical trials were conducted following NBR 9533 - Brazilian standard, similar to the ASTM D 1037 - American standard. MOR (parallel and perpendicular) and MOE (perpendicular) analyses revealed that the plywood results were significantly higher than the OSB ones. The panels showed to be equivalent with respect to stiffness (MOE parallel). In conclusion, the direct substitution of plywood for OSB is not recommendable, because although they can have similar physical properties (specific gravity) they differed on those important mechanical properties. This indicates that substitutions between those materials should be preceded with more elaborated studies taking into account the magnitude of the properties required by the products in use.
OSB; plywood; strength; stiffness
