Development of wood-based lightweight sandwich panels for structural applications

尽管木质轻质夹芯板的概念由来已久，但在航空航天、交通运输、门、家具和体育器材等不同领域，木质轻质夹芯板的应用越来越广泛。今天的大多数LWSP由两个牢固的薄表面胶合在一个厚重的轻质核心上，其中两个成分都可以是木材、塑料和/或金属。 位于新不伦瑞克州埃德蒙斯顿的Corruven Canada Inc.(以下简称Corruven)最近开发了一系列采用其专利Corruven®Core技术的木质单板轻质复合板。这些核心技术已被用于开发具有不同应用的轻便潜水器。Corruven希望与新不伦瑞克大学木材科学和技术中心合作开展一个研究项目，旨在优化Corruven LWSP的结构和性能，用于脚手架板材和墙体系统等结构应用。 拟议的项目将研究在室外和室内均高性能的建筑中使用LWSP的可行性。在本项目中，将研究生产变量和边缘材料对板材性能的影响。由于Corruven面板的芯子具有特殊的配置/形状和材料，因此它们不属于ASTM测试方法中定义的任何类别。因此，还将提出改进的试验方法，从刚度、承载能力和粘结质量三个方面来评估Corruven的LWSP的结构性能。该项目的成果将有助于科鲁文将其市场扩展到建筑行业，并进一步保持加拿大木制品行业的全球竞争力。

Although the concept of wood-based lightweight sandwich panels (LWSPs) has been around for a long time, LWSPs have been gaining popularity in different applications, such as aerospace, transportation, door, furniture and sports equipment. Most LWSPs today consist of two strong thin face sheets glued to a thick lightweight core where both constituents can be of wood, plastics, and/or metal. Corruven Canada Inc. (hereafter Corruven) located in Edmundston, New Brunswick, has recently developed a series of wood-veneer-based lightweight composite panels with its patented Corruven® Core Technologies. The core technologies have been used to develop LWSPs with different applications. Corruven, would like to collaborate with the University of New Brunswick's Wood Science and Technology Centre to conduct a research project with an aim to optimize the structure and properties of Corruven's LWSPs for structural applications such as scaffold planks and wall systems. The proposed project will investigate the feasibility of using LWSPs in construction with high performance in both outdoor and indoor. In this project, effects of production variables and edging materials on panel properties will be studied. Since the cores of Corruven's panels have special configurations / shapes and materials, they do not fall in any category defined in ASTM test methods. Therefore, modified testing methods will be also proposed to evaluate the structural performance of Corruven's LWSPs in terms of stiffness, load capacity and bond quality. The outcomes from this project will help Corruven expand its market to construction sector, and furthermore keep Canada's wood products industry more competitive globally.