3rt Holding Pty Ltd.

Rebecca Esther Norman

David Andrew Lewis

Jonathan Andrew Campbell

David A Lewis

A process of producing a manufactured wood product comprises providing a plurality of wood pieces having substantially an equilibrium moisture content; contacting the plurality of wood pieces with one or more additives under conditions for the additive(s) to soak into the wood pieces; applying a thermoplastic adhesive comprising a thermoplastic resin and a crosslinking agent to the wood pieces to form adhesive coated wood pieces; optionally heating the adhesive coated wood pieces to form heated adhesive coated wood pieces; assembling the adhesive coated wood pieces in a desirable configuration to form assembled adhesive coated wood pieces; compressing the assembled adhesive coated wood pieces in a press at a pressure and for a time sufficient to compact and compress the assembled wood pieces to force trapped air out of and mechanically deform the assembled adhesive coated wood pieces so that adjacent wood pieces conform to the shape of one another; crosslinking the thermoplastic adhesive to at least a critical crosslinking amount during the compression step to form an at least partially cured manufactured wood product, wherein the critical crosslinking amount is sufficient such that the at least partially cured manufactured wood product substantially maintains its compressed form and prevents the wood pieces expanding and returning to their initial state upon release of pressure in the compression step; removing the at least partially cured manufactured wood product from the press; and optionally, further curing the partially cured manufactured wood product to provide the manufactured wood product having substantially an equilibrium moisture content.

Manufactured wood products and methods of production

A manufactured wood product in the form of a consolidated monolith comprising a plurality of natural wood pieces adhesively bonded together by a crosslinked thermoplastic adhesive which has been cross linked during processing wherein said manufactured wood product retains its consolidated shape at elevated temperatures and wherein the crosslinked thermoplastic adhesive has a glass transition temperature at or lower than the normal use temperature of the manufactured wood product.

Growing community of inventors

Oaklands Park, Australia

Rebecca Esther Norman