Exterior Structural Composite Panels with Southern Pine Veneer Faces and Cores of Southern Hardwood Flakes

One-half-inch thick, structural exterior composite panels of various constructions were made in a one-step process, with faces of southern pine veneer and cores of mixed southern hardwood flakes. The flakes were precisely machined to be 3/8-inch wide, 3-inches long, and 0.015-inch thick. Two veneers, cross-laminated on each face over an oriented flake core, yielded the strongest panels. Panels with single veneer faces and random cores were most stable parallel to the grain of face plys. Average MOR of 9,153 psi and MOE of 1,731,000 psi for panels with single-veneer faces and random core is adequate for most structural applications, even though these values are slightly lower than those of panels with two veneers on each face. Within the range of the experiment, the combination of 1/16-inch, single-ply veneer faces with a random core provided structural panels having adequate strength and good dimensional stability. The simplicity of single-ply faces and the ease of forming random-flake cores made such construction the best candidate for a one-step hot press operation in existing panel plants. Such panels had average MOR of 10,400 psi and MOE of 1,696,000 psi.

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