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Hybrid sheets of 1-mm-thick EN AW-6016-T4 aluminum alloy and 4-mm-thick birch wood were produced by adhesive bonding. Wood fibre orientations parallel as well as perpendicular to the rolling direction of the aluminum sheet were considered. After curing the adhesive, the hybrid aluminum-wood sheets with overall dimensions of 250 mm × 60 mm × 5 mm were subjected to three-point bending.
Hybrid sheets (i) as fabricated at room temperature, (ii) moistened at room temperature, and (iii) moistened at approx. 100 °C were tested. Two bending modes were investigated, since either the aluminum sheet or the wood sheet was placed at the punch side. Moreover, a finite element model of the testing setup was built using the LS-Dyna software. Experiments were performed for determining individual properties of aluminum and wood which were used as input for the model. Punch forcedisplacement curves and deformation behavior observed in experiments and simulations showed good agreement.
Every two years the “Long Night of Research” is carried out at 280 locations all over Austria. After a forced break in 2020, this year on the 20th of May 135 000 visitors took the chance again to get a live insight into science and research of various fields. The event aims to present the importance of scientific research for all ages and especially lets children and young people experience the daily works of scientists up close. From guided tours through to live experiments and join-in activities the concept is led by a hands-on and easily accessible way of knowledge transfer.
The CARpenTiER project team took the chance and presented the first results, goals and challenges in establishing wood and renewable materials in the mobility sector. With the sounds of cracking wood under a live bending test of a cars side impact beam, the attention of the audience was easily captured. Many were surprised to learn that the bio-based beam can reach the same standards as the steel version with the crucial benefits of weight savings, greenhouse emission reduction and lower primary energy use.
The exhibition of the bus staircase and wooden chassis of a snowmobile from the predecessor project WoodC.A.R. facilitated the transition to the current CARpenTiER research questions on enabling the use of wood and overcome the challenges of the variability of natural raw materials in a modern industrial production. On that night 1500 visitors at the BOKU-lab in Tulln learned about the projects approach via digital modelling of example units and function-oriented process control. Quickly, the interested discussion with the presenting team from BOKU and Innovation Centre W.E.I.Z. on the stations general question “how much wood is in a car?” turned into “how much wood could be in a car in the future?”.
Finally, once again, a physical meeting of all project partners on the research field "Wood in new applications". On October 11th and 12th, as part of the “CARpenTiER” project, the 2nd consortium meeting took place in the W.E.I.Z. instead and you could feel the great joy of meeting.
Full of energy and full of energy, the partners listened to the presentations of the master's theses “From laboratory to industrial scale: ecological upscaling effects in the production of wood components for the automotive industry” and “The acceptance of wood as a sustainable high-tech material in vehicles. An end-user perspective. "
Afterwards, the participants discussed the defined research questions of the CARpenTiER project, in the context of the extent to which the further development of production technologies on the basis of functional, digital-based process control is in focus. The aim of CARpenTiER is the development of production technologies for wood-based hybrid constructions in automotive, plant and mechanical engineering.
The meeting was rounded off by an impressive tour of the company at the industrial partner Weitzer Parkett.
On September 2nd and 3rd, 2021, the kickoff workshop of the scientific partners - W.E.I.Z. Forschungs & Entwicklungs gGmbH, BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, VIRTUAL VEHICLE Research GmbH and Technical University Graz - in the innovation center W.E.I.Z. instead of.
At the beginning of the 2-day event, the previous work of the scientific partners was presented. Based on this, pre-prepared tests were followed by forming tests in different variations with different wood samples, in order to demonstrate by means of practical tests what possibilities there are in the raw material wood and what limits there are for it.
The various findings were then discussed in small groups in order to determine the scientific activities in the first year of research.
The aim of the CARpenTiER project is to develop production technologies with which wood can be used efficiently in automotive, plant and mechanical engineering. Not only the material wood, but also the associated manufacturing processes for industrial production should become economically efficient, controllable and reproducible.
In addition, suitable methods for woodworking and processing are to be developed in order to conserve resources and to maximize the use of raw materials in production.
On June 23, 2021, the kickoff meeting of the project “CARpenTiER‘‘ with the science and business partners took place in the form of an online event. Activities for the first year of research were defined and the entire project consortium was presented in detail. CARpenTiER is the successor project to the successfully completed WoodC.A.R. Project (https://www.woodcar.eu). As in the WoodC.A.R. In the CARpenTiER project, the W.E.I.Z. took over the management of the consortium.
The aim of CARpenTiER is to develop production technologies with which wood can be used efficiently in automotive, plant and mechanical engineering. Not only the material wood, but also the associated manufacturing processes for industrial production and the use of wood and wood hybrid components should be made predictable and manageable. In addition, suitable methods for woodworking and processing are to be developed in order to conserve resources and to maximize the use of raw materials in production.
Scientific Partners
Business Partners
The project CARpenTiER "Modelling, Production and further Processing of Eco-Hybrid Structures and Materials" is funded within the framework of COMET - Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies by BMK, BMAW and the Province of Styria. The COMET program is managed by the FFG.
WoodC.A.R.
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