Prefinishing Mende Board

Commercial production of Mende board (Mende) in North America started in 1971. Prefinishing followed close behind. Compared to competing products, prefinished Mende has the advantages of relatively stable low cost. The disadvantages are low structural strength and poor dimensional stability against changing ambient relative humidity. A waterborne-coating finishing schedule will include sanding, filling, grooving and groove coating, basecoating, multi-color printing and topcoating. Important finishing line parameters include cure temperatures up to 200?F board surface temperature (BST) and precooling to not over 120?F BST before stacking. Finished panel physical requirements include a pleasing appearance, good coating adhesion and reasonable wear and scrub resistance. Waterborne coatings already meet the Federally mandated limitation of 6 pounds of volatile organic component per 1000 square feet coated. Specific state and local environmental laws may impose even more stringent restraints. Coming regulations will force significant reduction in the amount of formaldehyde present at the coating line and evolved at the point of panel installation. Reliable measurement techniques need to be developed. High solids and radiation curable finishes have the potential for upgrading prefinished board. However, radiation cured coatings are inherently more expensive. Both lack a means of applying economically thin dry film thicknesses. Even so, Mende finishing techniques will change to take advantage of the evolving coating technologies and application equipment developments. Governmental regulation and more sophisticated consumers will force future change at a more rapid pace.

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