Differences between MDF, MDP, plywood and OSB board.

Over the past few years, wood has received increasing attention in the construction industry. With concerns about sustainability and the carbon footprint of buildings, new construction methods and innovative possibilities for wood use have been rapidly developed. This interest in wood stems in part from its renewability, although this benefit depends on sustainable harvesting and proper forest management to allow for natural regeneration. However, the versatility of wood is the main driving force behind its widespread use. From planks to beams, to floors, and even to thermal and acoustic bricks and insulators, wood can be used in many different stages of a single project and processed and finished to varying degrees.

In the case of manufacturing furniture, wall coverings, ceilings and even floors, using planks is an economical and practical way to integrate wood into a building. There are a variety of wood panels available on the market, each using a different manufacturing process involving fibers, particles, fragments or sheets, resulting in a specific use. Next, we select the most commonly used boards, including their characteristics and main uses:

Particleboard and MDP (Medium Density Particleboard)
Particleboard is made by pressing wood chips, such as sawdust and dust, with resin and glue. Over time, this material has given way to other solutions, such as MDF or its more recent replacement, MDP. It can be done with paint and varnish, but they rarely stick together because the surface is not smooth or uniform. The main advantage of such aggregations is their low cost. Its use is similar to MDF, but specific types of hardware and connections must be used to obtain satisfactory results.
Like particleboard, MDP board is also made of wood particles compressed and hot-pressed by synthetic resin, the difference being that fine particles are deposited on the surface of the board, while the thickest particles are deposited on the core. This distribution allows for better finish, better adjustability and more coating application possibilities. It is not very wet resistant and may have some defects, and the resulting panel is widely used in the production of simple furniture.