3052 



Chapter 24 



Geimer and Lehmann concluded that gradually changing from flange to web 

 material through a transition zone should reduce stress concentrations and that 

 horizontal-shear stiffness significantly affects shaped-beam performance. 



CORRUGATED-CONTOUR FLAKEBOARD 



Price and Kesler (1974) molded long sweetgum veneer flakes 0.015 inch thick 

 and 3/8-inch wide into phenolic-bonded, flat-topped corrugated panels (fig. 24- 

 60). They evaluated flakes of two lengths (2 and 3 inches) and of two types 

 (clipped from veneer sheets and cut on a shaping-lathe headrig). Two-inch-long 

 flakes conformed to molds better than those 3 inches long. Veneer flakes con- 

 formed to molds better than shaping-lathe flakes and yielded products with more 

 uniform density and thickness. Flat specimens cut from the corrugated panels 

 (fig. 24-60) had about 40 percent lower MOR and MOE than flat-pressed panels. 



MOLDED PALLETS 



In Europe, pallets have long been commercially molded from softwood and 

 hardwood sawdust (Anonymous 1976; Suta and Postulka 1978). A plant built in 

 1979 in Dover, Ohio is using the Werzalit process to fabricate molded urea- 

 bonded pallets (fig. 24-61) from a mixture of hardwood and softwood particles. 

 In this plant, operated by only three people per shift, hot presses are used to 



Figure 24-60.— Molded flakeboard fabrication process. (Top left) Mold attached to 

 press. (Top right) Formed mat resting on caul. (Bottom left) Mat resting on mold. 

 (Bottom right) Mold almost to stops. (Photos from Price and Kessler 1974.) 



