Wood Composites: Pushing the limits of Materials and Manufacturing

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Wood Composites Pushing the limits of Materials
and Manufacturing

• Vikram Yadama
• Assistant Professor Extension Specialist
• Wood Materials Engineering Laboratory
• Washington State University
• Washington State Technology Summit
• Bellevue, WA
• April 15, 2008

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Issues Challenges

• Changing
• Climate, resources, global competition, ...
• Forest fires over 9 million acres in 2007
• Growing the market share
• Dennis Hardman of APA
• Significant demand-capacity gap (supply gtgt
  demand)
• Mature commodity products, need to find new
  markets
• Economic stability of the forests products
  industry
• Need options that cater to local community needs
• Low capital investment
• Value-added products niche markets
• Technology
• Flexible manufacturing
• Hybrid manufacturing
• Reduced material wastage, energy demands, and
  emissions

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Role of Forests Wood Products in Carbon Economy

• Role of forests
• Crucial to manage forests well
• US Forests currently sequester 200 Tg C/yr from
  the atmosphere (1 Tg 1x1012 g) 0.9 T CO2
  trapped in every m3
• Wood Products Carbon Storage
• emissions from FP value chain are offset by
  sequestration in forests and
  forest products

Source WBCSD SFPI Energy and Climate Action
Team, World Business Council for Sustainable
Development, Washington DC, USA, 2007
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Opportunities in Wood Composites

• Lignocellulosic Thermoplastic Composites
• utilize residues, insect damaged wood, forgiving
  of wood quality
• low capital investment - 5-15 million
• durable products without toxins
• ability to engineer formulation and net shape
  manufacturing
• flexible manufacturing
• thermoforming reactive extrusion injection
  molding
• Next generation strand-based composites
• utilize forest thinning and short-rotation
  plantation harvests
• hybrid technologies
• ability to engineer laminates to increase
  specific stiffness strength
• net shape design with hybrid and new technologies
• extend wood and resin use through light-weight
  laminates

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More to do...

• Structural Performance
• Time dependent properties
• Fiber reinforcement
• Synthetic fibers
• Natural fibers
• Use of advanced technologies
• stiffness, durability, etc...
• Environmental effects
• Construction of building envelopes
• Energy Efficiency Losses
• Vapor retarders, vented vs unvented
• Think outside the box
• System design (detailing, performance)
• Net section design
• Modular design
• minimizes waste
• prefabrication

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Questions?

• we need RD to create new and innovative
  products that cut across boundaries and satisfy
  both old and new customers.
• -- Al Schuler Craig Adair, 37th International
  Wood Composites Symposium, 2003, Pullman, WA