Structural Flakeboards and Composites 



3053 



Figure 24-61. — Urea-bonded pallets fabricated from ring-cut particles by the Werzalit 

 process. Large pallet is 42-3/16 by 42-1/16 inches and weighs about 39.5 pounds; 

 small pallet is 31-9/16 by 23-5/8 inches and weighs about 10.4 pounds. Resin-solids 

 content is about 8 percent of ovendry weight of wood. (Photo from Haas 1980.) 



make warehouse pallets and smaller pallets for handling case goods in grocery 

 stores; the pallets are molded so they can nest together to save shipping space. 

 For handling bagged material a lip can be moulded around the pallet's top edge 

 to help hold bags in place; molded pallets have low moisture content and do not 

 wet the bags as do solid- wood pallets of green lumber (Wasnak 1980; Maloney 

 1979). 



Molded-flake pallets. — R. A. Caughey of New Hampshire Flakeboard, 

 Inc., Antrim, N.H., and researchers at Michigan Technological University, 

 Houghton, Mich., have performed much development work on pallets molded 

 from hardwood flakes (fig. 24-62). These pallets are pressed with dimpled decks 

 (visualize a muffin tin with nine recesses) to form integral feet in such a 

 configuration that the pallets nest for shipping. Haataja (1981) reported that 

 Industrial Packaging Corporation, Detroit, Mich., was constructing a plant to 

 produce about 800,000 expendable and returnable pallets per year, and other 

 material-handling products. Service performance data on these products are not 

 published. Haataja' s (1981) study of the economic feasibility of producing 

 molded-flake pallets is summarized in section 28-19. Koch and Caughey (1978) 



