Ultra-light particleboard: characterization of foam core layer by digital image correlation

• Published in: European journal of wood and wood products 2017, Vol.75 (1), p.43-53
• Main Authors: Shalbafan, Ali, Rhême, Martin, Thoemen, Heiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Ceramics; Chemical composition; Composites; Computer simulation; Digital imaging; Elastic properties; Elasticity; Foams; Glass; Gluing; Life Sciences; Machines; Manufacturing; Mechanical properties; Morphology; Natural Materials; Original; Particle board; Process parameters; Processes; Sandwich panels; Sandwich structures; Weight reduction; Wood Science & Technology
• ISSN: 0018-3768; 1436-736X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00107-016-1088-0

Increasing markets for internet-traded furniture, but also economic concerns are main driving forces to considerably reduce the weight of wood-based furniture panels. Recent research and technological developments have led to an innovative one-step process which simplifies the typical multi-step process for production of foam core panels. Three layered sandwich panels (with particleboard faces and polymeric in situ expanded foam as core layer) can be produced by a one-step process without additional gluing between the face and core layers. As the morphology of the foam and hence its mechanical properties strongly depend on its chemical composition, as well as on the process parameters during expansion, there are no data available, so far, describing the foam of the novel panels. The aim of the proposed project is to determine the elastic properties of in situ expanded foams using 2D digital image correlation. The data can be used later on for the simulation of the elastic behavior of foam core particleboards by means of FEM to describe the short and long term behavior of the panels.