3.3. Water absorption properties
One of the most important properties to be evaluated for CBWCs is water absorption,since it can affect the mechanical properties and also dimensional stability. The water absorption values observed in the composites are shown in Fig. 1c. Boards produced using 60% wood strands exhibited the highest water absorption. This could be attributed to their lower bulk density and hence higher porosity already alluded to. Asasutjarit et al. [11] reported that the low density wood–cement boards have more void spaces than dense ones so that more water can be absorbed. In other words, increasing board density decreases the void and improves thickness swelling and water absorption characteristics. It is interesting to mention that the increase in void content is also due to the inadequate compaction of the unworkable mixes. In addition, it was observed that CaCl2 treated composites generally absorbed less water at 2 h and 24 h, respectively, than the untreated ones.