MDF is a wood based material, very well suited for furniture and other more complex carpentry solutions. Strict building regulations for public rooms will at the same time mean restrictions for the use of MDF.
MDF is sensitive to indoor climate changes so large formatted panels and zero spaced joints should be avoided. MDF is a very suitable material to create curved panels and integrated furniture solutions, like kitchen cabinets, etc.
MDF cannot be vacuum impregnated with chemical fire retardants. To produce a fire retardant MDF, the fire retardants must be pre-mixed into the substrate when producing the FR-MDF board. The MDF core of the Panel or Linear Rib can be classified B-s1,d0, but not the Panel or Rib product as a whole, including the surface veneer, surface finish and installation system. To solve this problem some suppliers add a fire retardant lacquer to the surface, but these must be applied very thick, eliminating the option to create designs with a wood grain structure. Fire retardant lacquers contain salts, are not truly transparent and do not allow post treatments like acoustic perforations or cutting on site.
MDF cores are produced with a lot of glue, but versions using correct glues and with approved emissions are available. Surface area increasing post treatments, like acoustic perforations or slicing the material into Linear Ribs, may affect the emission classification.
| Material Property | MDF | Score |
| Dimension Stability | MDF is sensitive to changes in the room’s temperature or humidity and should be installed with a 4 mm spacing per 1000 mm of length and width. | 2/5 |
| Resistance to impact | MDF has a good resistance to impact and is suitable for high traffic areas, sports halls, schools, hospitals, restaurants and similar. | 5/5 |
| Flattness | MDF is sensitive to changes in the room’s temperature or humidity and large panel formats should be avoided. | 3/5 |
| Fire Safety of the core | Fire retardant FR-MDF’s with class B-s1,d0 are avaible | 4/5 |
| Fire Safety of the whole panel, including the veneer, lacquer and perforations | With veneer FR-MDF drops to fire class C or lower. FR-Lacquers can be used, but the salts and thickness requirements make them non-clear. Perforated holes can not be lacquered. | 2/5 |
| Acoustics | With 9,5 kg/m², MDF based panels will more easily start to vibrate/resonate due to sound waves. Sound will not be properly reflected towards to back concert halls or auditoriums | 3/5 |
| Recycled material | MDF is made of new raw materials and does not contain any recycled material (and by that no post consumer recycled materials). | 0/5 |
| Thermal mass | MDF is not very good at storing heath and cold and rather works the opposite way by isolating the concreate structure of a building which ortherwise can store heat and cold. | 2/5 |
| Emissions | MDF is available in formaldehyde class E1. After adding an acoustic perforation, the E1 classification is normally not valid anymore as the total emitting surface increases. | 2/5 |
| No added Urea Formaldehyde | MDF is available in non added ureaformaldehyde versions. MDF contains a lot of glue, so when incorrect glues are used, a lot of urea formaldehyde will be added. | 3/5 |
| Colors | The natural color of MDF is brown, but is available in many pre-colored grades. Please note that pre-colored MDF will have minimum MOQ’s and longer lead times | 5/5 |