Investigation of the Compression and Bending Strength of Veneer-Polyurethane Foam Composites

Lightweight sandwich panels have been widely used for structural applications in the building and furniture industry. The advantages of using these materials comprise their high stiffnessand strength-to-weight ratios. A large variety of applied materials and a wide assortment of developed manufacturing methods allow a purposeful design tailoring of sandwich components and a usage of different materials and geometries. Fixture developments in the furniture industry allow lightweight panels to be used without stiles, rails and internal blocking, making them more cost competitive with particleboard and medium density fiberboard panels. This poster presents an alternative concept for the production of lightweight sandwich panels using preformed hardwood veneer residues/polyurethane foam core and different wood veneers as face layers. Mechanical properties of the panels including compression and bending strength were tested in two directions, parallel and perpendicular to the strand alignment. A two-level factorial design was employed in order to establish the effect of resin spread, pressure and resin setting temperature on the compression strength. The veneer clippings used as reinforcements in the core gave the panel more rigidity and increased compression strength. The obtained results demonstrate the viability of the newly developed panels for both structural and non-structural applications.