Abstract: Abstract：The mechanical properties of gypsum board was poor, and cannot be used as load-bearing material in construction.Plant fibers can be employed as the reinforcement to increase the mechanical properties of the gypsum board, but theimprovement increment on the mechanical properties was limited because of the addition of gypsum retarders during thepreparation of general particle-gypsum composites. The gypsum retarder solution deteriorated the morphology of gypsumcrystals, and the gypsum crystals became shorter and wider, and then the overlapping area decreased among them. The generalparticle-gypsum composites still cannot be used in structural application. In order to increase the mechanical properties of theparticle-gypsum composite, a two-step preparation process including pre-forming molding and moisture-curing was proposedin this study. The particle-gypsum composites with different melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) content and the particle /gypsum ratio was prepared, and the physical and mechanical properties was tested. The effects of MUF content and theparticle / gypsum mass ratio on mechanical properties of the particle-gypsum composites were analyzed by one-factorexperiment. The results in the present study were compared with the requirements in three product standards and that in thereported literatures. The test results showed there was a positive relationship between the MUF content and the mechanicalproperties of the particle-gypsum composites, and the particle / gypsum mass ratio had a slight impact. The mechanicalproperties of the particle-gypsum composites with more than 15% MUF content met the requirements of standard LY/T 1598(2011), and the values, except longitudinal modulus of rupture, were in accordance with the requirements of standard LY/T1580 (2010) when MUF content was above 21%. The mechanical properties of the particle-gypsum composites reached E5.0-F16.0 grade according to the standard GB / T 35216 (2017), when 33% and higher MUF content was used. The curves ofbending load with deformation of gypsum boards exhibited linear elastic behavior due to the brittleness of gypsum crystals.All particle-gypsum composites in bending tests exhibited obvious non-linear behavior before the maximum load was reached,and the failure was ductile. The strengths of the composites in the present study were all higher than that in the reportedliteratures. Therefore, the particle-gypsum composites can be used as structural boards in construction. Based on thecombination of mechanical properties and costs, the performance of the particle-gypsum composites with 33% MUF contentand a particle/gypsum mass ratio of 0.30 were better, and the internal bond strength, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity,displacement ductility coefficient and 24 h thickness swelling of the particle-gypsum composite were 1.28 MPa, 16.5 MPa,7350 MPa, 1.64 and 1.23%, respectively. After the new preparation process was employed, the mechanical properties of theparticle-gypsum composites were increased greatly due to the increase of the strength of the gypsum continuous phase and theobvious improvement of the interfacial bonding strength between the particle reinforcement and the gypsum continuous phase.The microscopic images by scanning electron microscope indicated that gypsum crystals in particle-gypsum composites wereslender, when the new preparation process was employed. The gypsum crystals interlaced among them, and the contact area ofthe gypsum crystals was increased greatly with the increase of MUF content. Therefore, the gypsum continuous phase wasstrengthened. The amount of the gypsum on the surface of the wood particles was significantly increased with the increase ofMUF content due to the bonding performance of MUF resin.