Ministry for nutrition and rural areas Baden-Württemberg

Prof. Dr. Bastian Kaiser

N.N.

Objectives of the project

The technical-economic objective of the overall project is to develop an innovative, practical inline-technology for the value-added production of three-dimensional objects from polymeric bound wood. The technology to be developed, for example, ought to be implemented in the process flow of an existing sawmill to directly process the accumulating sawdust. This will make it possible for the first time to work up the existing saw waste on high-quality level into functional and technical products. Continuous and discontinuous processing techniques for materials exist, so there is generally a high success prospect for the development of the targeted inline-technology.

The feasibility of high-capacity and highly processible polymeric bound wood is still with great risk. All previously under the slogan WPC (wood plastic compound) attempted tests for the production of wood composite materials were still not really successful. Due to the extremely limited processing capability, all of these compounds are not fully ready for series production, and thus unsuitable for the practice. The present project is therefore requested to resolve technically unresolved matters concerning a process suitable polymeric bound wood and its utility properties in terms of a feasibility study. The novel approach of the project is aimed at the realization of mouldable compounds with MCD (= Mouldable cellulose derivative) polymeric matrix, whose recipe is adapted on the available wood raw material. Results of the study will be decision support and important prerequisite for the realization of the economically and ecologically demanded overall project inline-technology MCD.

Need and novelty compared to already known procedures

For the sake of sustainability, but also for economic reasons, the cycle principle is of high importance. The intention of the project is clearly the implementation of this goal, therefor it receives a fundamental and comprehensive legitimacy and is of great economic and technological importance. Unlike WPC, the project focuses on the feasibility of processable material compounds based on MCD, and finally the practical, namely serial production capable, implementation of the results obtained in an inline-technology.

Investigation methods

In the laboratories of the University of Aalen (Inst. Polymer Science and Processing iPSP), taking into account the relevant types of wood (pine wood, beech), MCD variants will be developed and qualified. The technical development of the novel, polymeric bound timbers focusses in particular on elementary and process suitable handling towards finished products. Accordingly the material enhancement of the samples includes the technical and processual assessment and description.