Advantages and Disadvantages of Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products in the world, and it has many advantages and disadvantages. Plywood advantages and disadvantages are discussed in this article.

Plywood is an engineered wood sheet material made up of fine layers or flimsy strands of wood veneers attached together placing wood grains 90 degrees to one another. It is one type of manufactured board which can be described as a mixture of Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) and Chip Board (Particle Board).

Advantages of Plywood

The followings are the advantages of Plywood:

1. An alternation of the grains is done inside plywood which is called cross-graining. It bears importance for some reason which increases the facility of plywood. Such as
   • Cross-graining in plywood helps to avoid the possibility to split while the edges are nailed.
   • It increases the strength of the material.
   • It helps to bind the grains more tightly.
   • Unnecessary expansion and wood shrinkage are avoidable for cross-graining.
   • Gives enriched spatial stability. 
   • Board consistency remains firm in all directions due to this.
2. Plywood has a reduced possibility to bend because odd numbers of plies are attached maintaining balance inside plywood. 
3. The stiffness of plywood has made it hard to bend and inflexible. 
4. Plywood helps to contribute to the economy.  
5. While solid wood is heavy, furniture made from plywood is comparatively lighter to transfer. 
6. Plywood has ecological importance.

Disadvantages & Limitations of Plywood

The followings are the disadvantages of Plywood:

1. Urea and phenol formaldehyde used for gluing cause cancer.
2. Plywood is in many aspects weaker than wood. 
3. Not durable like wood.
4. Not always easy to sculpt on this. 
5. Lighter than normal wood. 
6. Without some special resistance method maximum after long-term get attacked by insects.
7. Plywood cannot be exposed to wet or moist weather for a long period of time. 
8. The surface of plywood if not painted well can be peeled off.

Read More:

• What is Plywood? Types of Plywood
• Properties of Plywood
• Plywood Manufacturing Process - Step by Step
• Uses of Plywood