Abstract: A multi-layer engineered-wood composite panel or board with a core strand layer, with one or both top and bottom surface layers formed with “fluffy” fiber layers. The fibers may be synthetic or natural. The fibers have anti-settling characteristics. The fibers may be micro-fibrillated cellulose and subsequent cellulose elemental fibrils processed to reduce lignocellulosic recalcitrance and allow the structural integrity of cell walls to be loosened and fibers to be unfolded and exposed. The processed fibers when used as a surface layer provide a denser, smoother and more uniform surface than that obtained with particle-based products.

Abstract: Thermally-modified panels, boards, and flooring manufactured from engineered wood, including, but not limited to, oriented-strand board (OSB). These products may be in the form of a sub-floor panel or substrate, a board, a panel, a combined panel, tile, or similar form. Heat treatment or thermal modification of wood or wood-based composites provides wood-based products with improved water resistance, dimensional stability, microbial resistance, and related biological durability with reduced use of harmful chemicals and/or the elimination of hazardous chemical pretreatments.