This Partnerships for Innovation project focuses on thermal-modification technology to enhance the utility of engineered wood products in order to improve dimensional stability and resistance to biodegradation and weathering. Service life will also be extended, while at the same time reducing environmental impacts. This project will advance thermal-modification technology toward the development of advanced, high-performing engineered wood products. Thermally-modified wood is currently used in a limited set of applications, including solid wood flooring, external cladding, and decking products. This project will advance the platform so that it can be the basis of new, high-volume, and in-demand engineered wood products for markets that are poised to grow quickly in the near future when the demand for engineered wood products increases with the rebound in U.S. residential and commercial construction. The completion and validation of research will also facilitate interactions and information exchange between stakeholders within the forest products industry to enhance opportunities for sustained forest products production and use; and it will contribut to improvement in the knowledge, skills, and capacity of the forest products industry workforce and management.
The broader impacts of this project will be job creation, national export earnings, and better homes and buildings from engineered wood products. This project will advance the scientific understanding of the thermal-modification platform and propel it toward potential applications for new, ultra-high-performing thermally-modified engineered wood products that excel in severe environmental conditions. Ultimately, such products will bolster the critical U.S. forest products industry by increasing U.S. economic competitiveness, increasing the number of jobs (many of them in rural and lesser-populated areas where the need is particularly great), increasing revenues for manufacturers, and accelerating the export of new products.
Partners at the inception of the project are the Knowledge-Enhancement Partners: University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute (Duluth, MN); Small businesses: Aspen Research Corporation (Maple Grove, MN); C.S. Industries LLC (Suwanee, GA); Marshall W. Nelson & Associates, Inc. (Eagan, MN); WI Business Innovation Corporation (Spooner, WI); and Large business: Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (Nashville, TN); Other Partners: Public: Aitkin County Economic Development and Forestry (Aitkin, MN); College of Menominee Nation (Keshena, WI); MN Department of Natural Resources (St. Paul, MN); USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (Madison, WI); WI Department of Agriculture; Trade and Consumer Protection (Madison, WI); and WI Department of Natural Resources (Madison, WI); Private Non-Profit: APA-The Engineered Wood Association (Tacoma, WA); National Association of Home Builders Research Center (Upper Marlboro, MD); Private For-Profit: Arclin Limited (Mississauga, Ontario, CA); and Stora Enso Wood Products Oy Ltd.(Helsinki, Finland).
