Innovation: Waterproof boards

Scientists in Wales have developed a cheap way of making waterproof chipboard.

Standard chipboard has a big drawback - when it gets wet it swells and falls apart. Waterproof glues are available for making weather-resistant boards, but cost several times as much as soluble glues.

Now the Biocomposites Centre in Bangor has found that a chemical called phthalic anhydride (PA), produced in large quantities for the plastics industry, can be substituted in part for waterproof glue.

BP Chemicals, which is the largest producer of PA in the UK, has financed the research.