Europe is facing the major overgrowth of alien invasive plant species, which is the reason for launching the APPLAUSE project that is also supported by the Europe Union. Its aim is to find ways to use such species to produce useful products. We have selected four different alien invasive wood species (black locust, sumac, tree of heaven, honey locust), from which we made four three-layer particle boards. First, we made particles from chips and used them to produce boards. We determined the density, moisture, swelling thickness, tensile strength, bending strength and modulus of elasticity of the borads. The boards were compared with those made of conifer particles and the standard SIST EN 312; 2011 for P2 panels of thickness between 13 and 20 mm used for furniture in normal climatic conditions. We found that the properties of particle boards are influenced by the selection of wood species. Differences already appear with the morphological characteristics of the particles, with which the mechanical properties of the boards are related. The most suitable board was made from sumac, which could be used for furniture. We could also use boards made from particles from tree of heaven and honey locust, although this would need some improvements with regard to the component proportions and manufacturing process.
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