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34 Research Highlights - Advanced Composites
Publication Year: 2018 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 1304 | Termite Resistance of Wood–Plastic Composites Wood-plastic composite (WPC) specimens were exposed to termites both in the laboratory and the field in Bogor, Indonesia. On a scale of 0 (complete failure) to 10 (sound), after 30 months field exposure, the WPC made with acetylated wood flour had no ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 1311 | X-Ray Methods to Observe and Quantify Adhesive Penetration into Wood To accelerate development of new and improved wood adhesives for engineered wood products, researchers are working to understand the optimal adhesive penetration into wood for specific products and applications. ... |
Publication Year: 2017 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 1283 | Local stiffness variation of paperboard examined in uniaxial tension Small regions of heterogeneity in paper stiffness can provide places for sheets to fail. Forest Service researchers are the first to develop methods for measuring local stiffness of paper. ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 1269 | Soy adhesives resolve two problems at once Lower formaldehyde emission bonded wood products can be made using plant-based adhesives through an industry-government partnership. ... |
Publication Year: 2016 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 654 | FPL<>Renewable, Biodegradable Polylactic Acid-Cellulose Nanocrystal Composites for Packaging Applications Packaging research conducted at the Forest Products Laboratory is aimed at developing fully biobased composites containing cellulose nanomaterials for packaging applications. Cellulose nanomaterials exhibit a number of interesting properties and have ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 651 | Highly-Efficient Capillary Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Using Cellulose Nanofiber-Templated TiO2 Photoanodes Among current endeavors to explore renewable energy technologies, photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting holds great promise for conversion of solar energy to chemical energy. Light absorption, charge separation, and appropriate interfacial redox ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 664 | Improving Moisture Durability of Forest Products Using Small-angle Neutron Scattering Moisture is the underlying cause of numerous durability issues in forest products, including decay, lack of dimensional stability, and fastener corrosion. An improved understanding of where and how water is absorbed in wood nanostructure will acceler ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 661 | New Test of Raw Material Quality Improves the Strength of Wood Laminates Plywood and laminated veneer lumber are built from wood veneers. Because the test for surface quality of the veneer was not very useful, Forest Service scientists developed a quick, easy method that tells us how to determine what veneers will make st ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 666 | Using Soybeans to Replace Synthetic Adhesives for Wood Bonding Soybeans were used to glue the first plywood but were replaced by fossil-fuel-based adhesives after World War II. Scientists at the Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory have helped soy adhesives return to plywood and are helping to find more a ... |
Publication Year: 2014 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 582 | 3D Engineered Panels from Laminated Paper Composites have Broad Potential Forest Service researchers are studying the use of high-strength laminated paper composite material as a low-cost replacement for aluminum and synthetic fiber-based composite panels for a variety of applications. Through proper three-dimensional engi ... |
Publication Year: 2013 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 449 | Ceramic-Like Thermal Expansion Obtained from Cellulose Nanocrystal Films One of the unique properties of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) are their low dimensional change with changes in temperature. Understanding the role and mechanism associated with thermal expansion within CNCs and CNC composites is important to a variety ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 437 | Enzyme Combo Results in Bioplastics Composite Developing bioplastics as a means of moving away from non-renewable, petroleum-based products has many economic and environmental benefits. Researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory recently developed a new way to produce furylglycolic acid (FA), ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 443 | Nanocellulose Gels Spun Into Continuous Fibers for Use in Advanced Composites Forest Service scientists worked with the University of Wisconsin to spin nanocellulose gels into continuous fibers so that they can be used more efficiently in advanced composites. The researchers are optimizing the spinning process and investigatin ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 447 | New Process Fabricates Efficient Reclyclable Solar Cells Using Natural Substrates Solar cells fabricated on optically transparent cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) films reach a power conversion efficiency of 2.7 percent, an unprecedented figure for cells on substrates derived from renewable raw materials. Additionally, these solar cell ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 451 | Panels Made from Wood and Recycled Fibers Go To Hollywood and Around the World The Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory is moving sustainable structural panel forming technology from the laboratory to commercial reality. The laboratory is working with Noble Environment Technologies of San Diego through a cooperative rese ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 435 | Success of Wood Veneers Influenced by Harvesting Season and Temperature: Plywood Performance and Failure: A New Understanding Cooperation with Finnish researchers results in new understanding of relationships between veneer processing, veneer properties, and product failure. ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 453 | Wood-Plastic Composites Improved with Fiber Pre-Treatment Scientists determine the dimensional stability of wood-plastic composites can be improved by treating wood sawdust and particles derived from beetle-killed trees with potassium methyl siliconate before incorporating the wood into high-density polyeth ... |
Publication Year: 2012 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 1 | Do Not Blame Adhesives When Veneers Are Guilty Perfectly good adhesives may be wrongly discarded after failing a performance test when in actuality the veneer caused the failure. ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 28 | Partnership Produces 3D (3-Dimensional) Engineered Fiberboard Panels Naturally bonded boards can use fibers produced from a variety of renewable sources including wood from forest thinnings and recycled paper fibers ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 6 | Wood-Plastic Composites Are More Desirable With Fire Retardant Treatments Wood-plastic composites treated with fire retardants addresses fire concerns in the wildland-urban interface ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 12 | Wood-Plastic Composites Improved with Glass Adding microsized glass particles to wood-plastic composites creates a less dense but stiffer material for use in a variety of building applications ... |
Publication Year: 2011 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 305 | Lumen filling and sol-gel reinforcement of the wood cell wall FPL researchers used a two-prong strategy to enhance weathering properties of wood. This dual treatment showed promise in protecting wood against the combined effects of sunlight and moisture. ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 307 | Producing Value-Added Composite Panels from Aspen Slash Wood The disposal of forest thinning residue is a concern when looking at sustainable forest management. Researchers found this material could be a valuable resource for commercially available structural panel products. ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 309 | Soy-based Adhesives for Wood Products Soy-based adhesives developed at FPL have been commercialized and allow wood manufacturers to replace adhesives based on fossil fuel with biomass-based adhesives. ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 322 | Technology Transfer in Action FPL-developed panels made from forest residuals, recycled fiber, and agricultural by-products are being commercialized by two start-up companies. ... |
Publication Year: 2010 | |
![]() Highlight ID: 163 | Effects of Press Sizes on Internal Steam Pressure during Particleboard Hot-Pressing Process Internal steam pressure produced during the hot-pressing cycle in particleboard production is critical to the newly developed bond strength that will determine the overall performance of particleboard. The difference between the accumulation of inter ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 173 | Elucidating Covalent Bond Formation and Cleavage in Wood Working with a group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Biochemistry, FPL researchers have discovered mechanistic details behind some long-standing theories of wood adhesion and brown-rot fungal decay. Firstly, solution-state nucle ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 161 | Evaluation of Various Fire Retardants for Use in Wood Flour/Polyethylene Composites Wood-plastic composites (WPCs) represent a class of materials increasingly used in residential construction and furniture-making. The fire performance of WPCs is not well understood, however, and there is little information regarding the effectivenes ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 165 | Fabrication Utilization of Recycled Fiber/Agricultural Fiber Panels and Exhibit The Forest Products Laboratory's research using anaerobically digested agricultural waste fibers combined with recycled paper fibers to make structural panels was selected by a prominent design firm for use as the main fabrication material for the Su ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 160 | Improved Composites from Wood Flour and Mixed Plastics In a cooperative project with Louisiana State University, Forest Products Laboratory researchers have used crosslinking technologies, commonly used in the cable coating industry, to optimize the performance of composites of mixed plastics and wood fl ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 174 | Increasing the Value of Slash by Use in Oriented Strand Board The project takes a closer look at chunkwood processing first developed in 1977 at the Northern Research Station lab in Houghton, MI. Branches and tree tops as small as 2 inch diameter are cut to 5 inch length, debarked, sliced into veneer chips and ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 164 | Particleboard Panels Manufactured from Rice Straws of Different Geometries Faced with worldwide shortages of forest resources, environmental pollution and waste of biological resources resulting from field burning of rice straw and other agriculture residues, there has been a revival of interest in using rice straw and othe ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 190 | Sol-gel technology to enhance performance properties of wood or wood fiber With support from industry partners, FPL researchers are developing new sol-gel technologies to enhance performance properties of wood or wood fiber. Sol-gel technologies are wet-chemical techniques that are widely used in the fields of materials sci ... |
![]() Highlight ID: 172 | Soy-Based Adhesives Provide Wood Composites That Meet California Emission Standards Ashland- Hercules, working cooperatively with the Forest Products Laboratory, have developed these soy adhesives and have commercialized them for interior plywood, engineered wood flooring and particleboard. This technology also allows wood manufactu ... |
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