Increased use of hardwood through light-weight constructions

The use of high density hardwood species for furniture and interior purposes can be limited because the weight. Keeping the weight low is important both from a user perspective and for logistic reasons in the manufacturing and distribution process. This work describes the construction and mechanical characteristics of a new type of light-weight panel in wood. The panel is a sandwich construction in three layers with hardwood as the surface layers. The surface layers are made of 6 mm thick solid beech and the core consists of solid pine wood in thicknesses of 24 or 96 mm cross-laminated to the surfaces. The total panel density was then 373 and 294 kg/m3 given a beech surface layer with a density of 725 kg/m3. The presented light-weight panel resulted in a 50-60 % decrease in the use of wood compared to a traditional edge-glued panel. Tests of the mechanical properties showed a bending stiffness in the longitudinal direction (of the core) of 2.9 kNm2 for a 36 mm thick panel and 221 kNm2 for a 108 mm thick panel. In the transverse direction, the corresponding values were 11 kNm2 and 88 kNm2. The overall results indicate that the light-weight panel presented shows promising technical and environmental properties and can thereby contribute to an increased use of hardwood species