Light-weight materials based on wood for interior fittings and furniture have been of interest for at least the last fifty years, mainly for cost-reducing reasons. Today, the increasing care of the environment and the growing interest in the concept of a sustainable society provide further impulses for the development of light-weight materials. A common consequence of the reduction in weight of such materials is deterioration in the mechanical properties, e.g. strength, stiffness and shape stability, compared to those of solid wood. New solutions for e.g. connections and mountings are also needed. Today, new panel materials are required where the disadvantages of conventional light-weight materials are less prominent and with aesthetic and tactile properties close to those of natural wood.
In this paper, a new type of light-weight panel is presented. The panel is cross-laminated in three layers and consists throughout of solid wood. The weight reduction is a consequence of the hollow middle-layer construction. The intention of the construction is to make it possible to mix species in the panel, e.g. a high-quality and high-density wood on the surface and a low-quality wood with low weight in the core, and thus to optimize the properties of the panel for a specific purpose and to keep costs down at the same time. In this first study, however, the whole panel is made of Scots pine.
Bending tests show that the glue-line between the outer layers and the core is critical for the mechanical performance of the panel and this has to be developed further.
This study shows that this light-weight panel can be used as a single component or in a system with other components for interior fittings and furniture. The current design of this light-weight panel has some deficiencies but, in addition to its low weight, it has the potential to provide the mechanical, aesthetic and tactile properties asked for.
Keywords: wood, board material, quality, pine
Authors
Nilsson J.
Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Linnaeus University, VÄXJÖ, Sweden
Johansson J.
Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Linnaeus University, VÄXJÖ, Sweden
Sandberg D.
Linnaeus University, VÄXJÖ, Sweden,
Luleå University of Technology, SKELLEFTEÅ, Sweden
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