OWIC - Current activities

Student Internships with impact! Student Jonathan Gates has spent the summer working for 9Wood in Springfield. One of the projects he worked on involved measuring screw pullout strength in particleboard-core architectural ceiling panels. Screws were inserted using a variety of screw gun clutch settings, depths of insertion, and with and without pilot holes. Jonathan discovered that over-torqueing screws significantly reduces holding strength. This project has allowed 9Wood to create an industry leading quality control system using a new torque meter that calibrates drill gun settings very accurately in inch-pounds of torque. Click here to see a report on the project

Ph.D. student Derek Thompson is assessing market opportunities for wood plastic composites (WPCs) in the U.S. highway construction sector. He has estimated annual consumption for three highway products and key findings include: 1) contractors are responsible for a significant portion of highway-related purchasing in the western U.S.; 2) familiarity with WPCs amongst highway contractors is relatively low; 3) WPCs are rated favorably in comparison to other materials; and 4) WPCs must be included in a qualified product list if they are to be considered by contractors. Click here to see a summary of the project

Managing for Quality and Innovation: Scott Leavengood is conducting research to measure best practices in quality management that lead to quality and innovation performance. Findings suggest three key areas of focus: 1) focus on the best practices � benchmark the competition as well as other high-performing companies; 2) focus on employees � cross-train wherever feasible and empower your employees to improve processes and satisfy customers and 3) focus on customers � assess their satisfaction, involve them in product development, communicate their needs to all employees. Click here to see a summary of the research

Green Building Research: Dr. Chris Knowles and colleagues from the University of Oregon and Portland State University interviewed architects, engineers, contractors, and developers, to learn how they make decisions about structural building materials. Some of their key findings are: 1) Oregon design professionals generally have positive views about wood; 2) the structural system of a building is selected primarily based on building code and cost; and 3) FSC is viewed as the most unbiased forest certification scheme. Click here for more information.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Former Ph.D. student Rajat Panwar studied changing societal expectations regarding company responsibilities and identified several important environmental and social issues upon which companies should focus. Key findings include: 1) The societal mandate regarding the role of business in society is changing; 2) Companies must respond to such changes by embracing broader social and environmental responsibilities; and 3) Six social and six environmental issues are identified that US forest products companies must address in order to be deemed socially responsible. Click here to see a summary of the research

Green Materials Research: Graduate Student Natalie Macias is exploring how environmental certification, wood source, and price affect architects� specification preferences for hardwood flooring. She has found that their preferences are primarily dependent on price and wood source. Environmental certification of hardwood flooring is considered the least important product attribute. Click here to see a summary of the research

Dr. Lech Muszynski is conducting research to develop new bio-based composites as alternatives to petroleum-based products. His primary focus is on common items you see along highways: bright orange traffic cones, barrels, and dividers used at construction sites, and even the tiny plastic reflectors glued to highway surfaces to delineate traffic lanes. In fact, even metal guard rails, concrete sound barriers, and other items made of non-renewable resources are candidates for products that could potentially be made from bio-based composites. More information

Dr. Kaichang Li is conducting research to use cellulose to partially replace silica as a reinforcing filler in tires. The research indicates that using microcrystalline cellulose can reduce the energy required to produce tires, lower costs, and produce tires that better resist heat buildup. Click here to see an article in the Oregonian.
Dr. Kaichang Li develops a new group of adhesives that may revolutionize a large portion of the wood products industry - and have important environmental and economic benefits.
More Information

New wood plastic composites: Dr. Kaichang Li has developed new wood-plastic composites that are stronger and less expensive than any similar products now available � a major breakthrough for this growing industry. More information.

Dr. Barbara Lachenbruch and colleagues have a paper accepted in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences entitled Maximum height in a conifer is associated with conflicting requirements for xylem design. The paper describes the mechanism that appears to control how tall Douglas-fir trees can grow. The pits on the sides of the tracheids (commonly called 'fibers') appear to be designed for high conductivity at the bottom of a tree, but further up the tree the pits appear to be designed to be able to keep air bubbles from entering into the tracheids. Because water is in tension in a tree and because that tension is higher at the top of a tree, entry of air bubbles can be disastrous for water transport. So although the pits high in the tree can keep bubbles from entering, their design drastically reduces their water transport. See BBC News Story
Dr. Chris Knowles and colleagues from the University of Oregon and Portland State University are joining forces to conduct research and outreach related to green building. With funding from Oregon BEST (the Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies signature research center), the team will develop a Responsible Material Selection Guide as well as workshop curriculum. This project will provide key information to Oregon�s construction professionals and graduate students, helping them make better decisions concerning building materials. More information.
Dr. Joe Karchesy with colleagues from the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the US Forest Service recently discovered that heartwood extractives from several cedars and western juniper are effective in limiting the growth of Phytophthora ramorum - the fungus-like agent responsible for Sudden Oak Death Syndrome (SODS). SODS is a rapidly spreading disease (in both forests as well as nurseries) that can kill or injure several oak species and 100+ other species as well. For more information, see the news release from the Ag Research Service
Dr. Rakesh Gupta and colleagues are conducting research to understand the forces wood structures must withstand to survive hurricane storm surges and tsunamis. They recently tested a 1/6-scale house at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Laboratory in Corvallis. See the news story and accompanying video from KEZI news, Eugene.
Earthquakes and wine racks?: Dr. Rakesh Gupta and colleagues recently tested an earthquake resistant shelving unit for an Oregon wood products firm. And what better product to put on such a shelving unit than wine bottles! See the press release at OSU News & Communications.

Dr. John Simonsen and colleagues in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science filed a provisional patent on Cellulose Nanocrystal Electro-optic Devices. This new application for cellulose has the potential to replace the polymeric liquid crystals in conventional LCD devices with cellulose nanoparticles. Applications include cell phones, wristwatches, televisions, electronic paper and flat screen computer monitors. More information.

Oregon Biomass and Biofuels: Scott Leavengood served as lead author for a report on biomass utilization in Oregon. The report was written for the Oregon Innovation Council as part of an effort to assess the feasibility of a Bio-Economy and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) research center. The report provides an overview of the current forest industry in Oregon, estimates of regional biomass supply, a review of recent literature on biomass utilization, and interviews with key stakeholders. Click here to download the report

Innovation in the North American Sawmilling industry - Dr. Eric Hansen's research team recently explored this topic and learned that mills are most innovative with respect to process innovation; innovativeness increased with mill size; a formal new product development process was most important when developing products that were new to the industry; and more.

Research on Wood Hardening - Dr. Fred Kamke's research team developed a technique to harden wood known as VTC - viscoelastic thermal compression. It works by mechanically compressing wood to increase its density from 100 to 300%. The key to VTC is to compress the wood when it is subjected to a high pressure steam environment. The technology shows great promise for processing wood from short rotation forest plantations to create high strength composites for structural applications. More information.

Wood and Chemical Warfare? - Dr. John Simonsen received a $50,000 subcontract to an Air Force research grant awarded to the Ventana Corporation, Tucson, AZ for the development of cellulose nanocrystal enhanced chemical warfare agent barrier films. The intended use is as a coating for tents and perhaps clothing. The coating will allow moisture to pass through the fabric, but will block the passage of chemical warfare agents. More information.

Students in Dr. Mike Milota�s class took on a project to dry hybrid poplar. Potlatch has a significant amount of this in their plantations near Boardman, OR and plans to construct a sawmill to produce lumber. Starting with a published schedule for drying cottonwood, the class investigated how to dry the hybrid poplar faster without damaging the wood. 3600 board feet and many student reports later the class determined that the poplar could be dried in about half of the time that Potlatch had planned. The student results will be used in designing the new facility. Considerable savings in capital expenditures will result due to the shortened drying time. More information.

Connie Love helped with the installation of a new spar pole at Camp 18, a logging museum along the Sunset Highway west of Portland. The new 160 foot Douglas-fir spar pole has a butt diameter of 57 inches and a top of 19 inches. The old spar pole had begun to decay and was riddled with buprestid beetle and woodpecker holes. Connie treated the full-length of the new pole with a granular fumigant and boron rods. She applied a copper/boron paste to the pole butt. Photos
Calling All Innovators! Does your company produce innovative wood products? Have you developed and/ or implemented innovative approaches in your manufacturing processes or managerial systems? If so, we want to hear from you. We have created a new site to highlight innovative Oregon wood products companies. Spotlight on Wood Products Innovation in Oregon

Hardwood Industry Education Event: The Oregon Wood Innovation Center, in conjunction with the Tennessee Forest Products Center at the University of Tennessee, is planning an educational tour of the eastern hardwood manufacturing industry. We have prepared an on-line survey to help us determine the level of interest of potential participants and to get feedback on details. Click here to take the survey