Archive 2016

Carinthian Regional Prize

The project "Let's process" was awarded 3rd place in the Carinthian Regional Prize in the category "Education, Science & Research".

Environmental assessment of bio-fibre reinforced composites during the innovation process – Life cycle analysis and Upscaling

Despite replacing fossil raw material, the environmental performance of bio-based fibre rein-forced composites is not per se more valuable-. Resulting from the change in material compo-sition, the manufacturing process needs to be adjusted, such as the injection molding forming process. Detailed analyses and comparisons with reference materials are necessary for the assessment of environmental performance, due to changed requirements for production pro-cesses, for material characteristics, as well as for end product and service life.

Fehra: support for the Scots pine

On April 21, 2016, the interim results of the qualification network "Fehra - Pinewood use" were presented in the “business centre of Lower Austria” in St. Pölten. The nine speakers had the task to summarise the input from 30 partners and the work of 22 workshops in just one afternoon.

New resins for old papers

In the furniture and flooring industry melamine decorative surfaces are used. In the first production step decorative papers are impregnated with melamine resins and industrially pre-dried in an impregnating channel. Tailored resins and their penetration behaviour thereby fix the final product properties. It is essential to know these properties – so on the basis of an objective method of determination we are able to predict this behaviour. This allows the use of new resins and the processing of difficult and sometimes old decorative papers. Thus an economic competitive advantage for the industrial partner is given.

Soft, softer, softest. New method to determine softness of tissue, textile, and nonwovens products.

Cellulose fibers find their applications in sensitive areas such as cosmetics, hygiene und medicine. Therefore the property softness is found among the fundamental quality parameters. So far, softness was determined by means of laborious panel test. Now, a more efficient method was successfully developed by the project team consisting of researchers from Lenzing AG and Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH.

A Powerplant made from Hemp

In order to be free from dependency on fossil fuels such as coal, gas or crude oil, the energy industries have high hopes on wind power because it is sustainable and available in plenty. However, there is one hitch: Although the wind power plant generates renewable, green energy the plant is made from eco-unfriendly materials. The rotor blades of wind turbines are generally made from glass fiber reinforced plastics. After 20 to 25 years of service, the plant reaches its end of life cycle and in this context the disposal of the fiber- reinforced plastics is problematic.

The next step towards Organic-Car

At the first cutoff round at the Interreg Slovenia Austria Programme W3C was granted the project MMO3D - Development of a robotbased multiaxis 3D printing technology for composite materials.

10 Years R&D - Story of Success Wood Carinthian Competence Center (W3C)

Exactly ten years ago the Wood Carinthian Competence Center (W3C) was founded in St. Veit/Glan, as one of four locations of the “Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH” in Austria. Since then, an impressive chapter of successful research, development and innovation in Carinthia has been written. Because of close cooperation with numerous business partners from the wood material industry, a value of several hundred million euros were generated and based on the research results a significant number of high-quality jobs have been created in the past decade in Carinthia.

Resin distribution in wood composites clarified

Adhesive distribution plays a major role for the properties of industrial wood composites, such as particle boards, MDF and OSB. The most common adhesive to produce these boards, urea - formaldehyde resin, is colourless when cured thus making the investigation of adhesive distribution merely impossible. In this project, methods to colour both wood and adhesive after the board is produced, enable the investigation of adhesive distribution. The knowledge thus obtained allowed the development of better adhesive, better boards and the reduction of chemicals needed.