Additive Manufacturing of Wood Composite Panels for Individual Layer Fabrication (ILF)

The renewable resource, wood, is becoming increasingly popular as a feedstock materialfor additive manufacturing (AM). It can help make those processes more affordable and reducetheir environmental impact. Individual layer fabrication (ILF) is a novel AM process conceived forstructural applications. In ILF, parts are formed by laminating thin, individually contoured panelsof wood composites which are fabricated additively by binder jetting. The individual fabricationof single panels allows the application of mechanical pressure in manufacturing those board-likeelements, leading to a reduction of binder contend and an increase of mechanical strength. In thispaper, the ILF process is described in detail, geometric and processing limitations are identified,and the mechanical properties of the intermediate product (panels) are presented. It is shown thatthe thickness of panels significantly influences the geometric accuracy. Wood composite panelsfrom spruce chips and pMDI adhesive showed flexural strengths between 24.00 and 52.45 MPa withadhesive contents between 6.98 and 17.00 wt %. Thus, the panels meet the mechanical requirementsfor usage in the European construction industry. Additionally, they have significantly lower bindercontents than previously investigated additively manufactured wood composites.     «

The renewable resource, wood, is becoming increasingly popular as a feedstock materialfor additive manufacturing (AM). It can help make those processes more affordable and reducetheir environmental impact. Individual layer fabrication (ILF) is a novel AM process conceived forstructural applications. In ILF, parts are formed by laminating thin, individually contoured panelsof wood composites which are fabricated additively by binder jetting. The individual fabricationof single panels allows the a...     »