Enhancement of cured cement using environmental waste: particleboards incorporating nano slag

Industrial waste is constantly increasing, so measures must be taken to recycle it in more practical and environmentally friendly ways. The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of sawdust wasted particles for the production of cement bonded particleboards, and to enhance their compatibility with cement by using physical pretreatment processes, addition of nano slag and accelerated carbonation curing. All tests were carried out with different manufacturing parameters: sawdust/cement: (20%, 30% and 40%), treated and untreated wood, CO 2 curing and the addition of nano slag. Experiments were performed to assess the mechanical properties of produced particleboards such as density (D), water absorption (WA), thickness swelling (TS), bending strength (BS), and microstructural properties of the cement particleboards. For treated sawdust, the outcomes demonstrated an enhancement in the mechanical and microstructural characteristics of produced cement bonded particleboards by using the accelerated CO 2 curing method for sawdust particleboards. According to Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs, part of the carbonate crystals was found to be diffused into the cell walls and cavities and were found to protrude from sawdust surfaces.