Wood + Plastics - Details

Solid wood is an natural material with an excellent ratio of costs and mechanical properties. The combination of the excellent mechanical properties of wood in the direction of the fibre and its low density predestine wood for technical applications that require good long term behaviour, low part weight and a long working life. Modern test equipments make it possible to check and to select the quality of wooden elements online according to defined quality requirements. A constant quality of the raw material can be guaranteed. The minor properties of wood can partially be compensated by the combination of wood and plastics, e.g. dimensional stability in moisture environment, low strength perpendicular to the direction of fibre, expansive shaping and high costs of assembling. The combination of wood and plastics enables the development of new products that can not be made of wood or plastics only. The new technology allows to increase the functionality of wooden parts.

During the last years IB STEINER has investigated the properties of composites made of wood and plastics in detail. This special know how is offered to our customers in the case of development projects. The new technology of IB STEINER enables the production of parts made of wood and plastics in series production.

We support our customers from the beginning of the development process until start of series production. Typical activities of a development project are:

• Definition of product requirements;
• Selection of materials;
• Development and construction of composites made of wood and plastics;
• Selection of process technologies and production tools;
• Production of test samples;
• Optimizing of the process parameters.

The combination of the special competence in polymer engineering and of methodical know how reduce the time until start of series production.

Topics of special interest of the area wood and plastics:

• Feasibility studies;
• Analysis and rating of the benefits of the combination of both materials;
• Preselection of the pre-treatment of wooden components for production of multi-material parts made of wood and plastics;
• Improvement of the functionality of wooden parts;
• Development of multi-material parts made of wood and plastics;
• Analysis of the quality of the combination of wood and plastics components.

Our partners:

HTBL Kapfenberg (http://www.htl-kapfenberg.ac.at)
Zentrum für Elektronenmikroskopie (ZfE) (http://www.felmi-zfe.at)