We established that nano materials can be used to give enhanced performance to engineered composite wood materials. The cost of nano materials-only a few cents per pound-added to adhesives has the potential for big savings to an individual mill.
Organization: University of Tennessee, Tennessee, USA
Inventors: Siqun Wang, PhD and Cheng Xing, PhD
Primary Market: Advanced Materials (Wood composites, chemical, adhesives)
Licensing Contact: S. Patterson, UT Research Foundation, University of Tennessee, US
Overview of IP courtesy of S. Wang, PhD, University of Tennessee, US
Adhesive mixed with nano fillers to make composite floors stronger
Oriented strandboard (OSB) has become an important building product, which accounts for 65% of the sheathing market in the residential house sector. Currently, 41 oriented strandboard (OSB) composite wood plants across the country consume an estimated 2.1 billion tons of wood. Our research team has invented a nanotechnology-based technology to reinforce adhesives (patent pending) which allow mills to produce light weight wood engineered products such as OSB and oriented strand lumber (OSL) using existing wood species or using less-desirable and higher-density hardwood species such as oak.
We believe that the total savings per year per mill range from 2.4 million dollars to 9.7 million dollars if they adopt this technique. This invention could be applied to other wood composite production, such as particleboard and fiberboard.
The technology is available for licensing for start-up companies and existing corporations.
