8th Global WPC and Natural Fibre Composites Congress and Exhibition June 22 - 23, 2010 near Stuttgart/Germany GLASS-FIBRE WOOD A SOLUTION FOR THE WOOD LAMINATES IN A MOISTURE ENVIRONEMENT Nuno Calçada Loureiro 1,2 , José Luís Esteves 1,3 nloureiro@ispgaya.pt; jesteves@fe.up.pt 1 MIT-Portugal Program – Engineering Design and Advance Manufacturing focus area DesignStudio, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oporto University – Engineering Faculty Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n 4200 – 465 PORTO - PORTUGAL 2 Polytechnic Institute Gaya - Development and Research Centre Av. dos Descobrimentos, 333 4400-103 V.N. GAIA - PORTUGAL 3 INEGI - Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management Composite Materials and Structures Research Unit Campus da FEUP , Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 400 4200-465 PORTO - PORTUGAL ABSTRACT One of the major problems that wood presents is the moisture degradation, and the loss of properties due to moisture contact. The wood industry has been carrying out, from a long time now, a great deal of efforts to reach a solution meant to decrease the impact of moisture in the wood mechanical properties. The use of varnishes or polymers core can be pointed out as typical examples of this effort. However, that is not enough and the mechanical properties continue to be very affected by the moisture. Trying to create a wood laminate that resists to moisture, a new product based in composite materials has been developed in a partnership between the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Engineering Faculty of Oporto University and INEGI. This technology has developed a new material called GLASS FIBRE WOOD (GFW). The GFW is a thermoset matrix laminate without the impregnation in the wood exterior layer, very similar tactile and visually with the usual wood laminates such as Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF). However, the similarities end there, because not only the mechanical behavior of the GFW is higher, but the environmental impact is lower, with much less wood and energy consumed than the MDF. The GFW makes the adhesion of the wood veneer to the core by a thermoplastic film – in this case Polystyrene (PS) - and this adhesion is made without external need of energy. Therefore the centre of this presentation is to expose this new material and also establish the comparison in the mechanical and environmental levels with one of its direct competitor – the MDF. We will also present a moisture degradation study of these two materials.