SPACEBOARD-II PANELS - PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES

This preliminary evaluation of the properties of Spaceboard II (SBII) was undertaken to establish the potential of a pulp-molded product in structural-use applications and to develop a basis upon which to optim ize the Spaceboard pulp molding process. Various tests were implemente d to characterize significant engineering properties, including static concentrated load, panel bending, panel shear, bearing strength, and coupon tension and compression strength. Although these tests were pre liminary in nature, they were nonetheless adequate to show that SBII p anels perform quite satisfactorily under ''dry'' conditions, relative to the current performance requirements established for structural-use panels. Our tests on SBII demonstrated that with proper formation and densification, a three-dimensional pulp molding process such as Space board provides the opportunity to create structural products from fibe r and to obtain the performance required of conventional products.