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The staff at the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center at the University of Maine have come up with the next big innovation in wood technology. This includes technology that will not only help the Army, but people living in dangerous climates, hurricane victims or earthquake-prone areas.
“Basically what we have been asked to do here is design a blast-proof building,” said Research and Development Program Manager Larry Parent who is also the link between UMaine and the Army. According to graduate student Tony Dumais, the students and professors achieved this by “redesigning the way wood breaks.”
By using a new method, which takes three-to-five hours, the wooden side panels, which make up the structure, are coated in a thin layer of resin mixed with other chemicals; this increases the wood’s ability to absorb the impact of an IED (Improvised Explosive Device).
This changes the wood from its naturally brittle state, to a more ductile two-by-four. When coated with the resin, wood will bend like a steel rod.
“That is our and the military’s main goal in this process, we want to be able to help those people living on the West Coast dealing with earthquakes and for families whose homes are in “Tornado Alley;” there are just so many uses,” Associate Professor for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Roberto Anido-Lopez said. This could help local industry by having companies already producing wood begin producing this higher quality product.
Members of the team have perfected the process to the point that the wood is now twice as strong and can absorb six to seven times the amount of energy as a regular wooden panel, significantly improving the structure’s ability to withstand a blast.
Daniel Thomas is a graduate student involved in the design of the project, “by optimizing the functionality of the connections and cutting down on parts, you are also cutting down on weight.” He said this is important because these buildings are put up using manpower.
“The Army wants to have these buildings not be permanent, by making them not only safer but much easier to assemble and disassemble, the troops can set them up and break them down as often as they need to,” said Lopez-Anido.
In July, a team of a dozen students, professors and other faculty members traveled to Louisiana’s Fort Poke for additional test blasting.
The Army was so impressed with the results that they asked the group to come back with an updated model to test in August. The building had some kinks, which needed work in that time.
“Basically we found that we had over-designed the connections, so what we did when we came back was simplified them. Now we are using the same size bolt for each connection point, which is actually a smaller gauge than we had been previously using,” Dan Thomas said. This helps in the optimization of the strength and weight of the building. The buildings had exceeded the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) standards for anti-terrorist protection. “This is the first time the Army has ever had such light-weight, high-strength material,” AEWC Director Habib Dagher said. “This could potentially change the very way our Army deploys its troops.”
The AEWC is working on a machine that can produce this product in a cost-effective manner. They are building a machine to coat the wood, when this happens, it will allow the technology to be applied to other fields. Hurricane proofing, tornado protection and earthquake-proof buildings, will all be possible using these methods.
The group won first place last year at the American Composites Manufacturing Association conference as “best of the best” for their work with ballistic tent panels for the Army.
Maine is one of the nation’s leaders in wood production, and UMaine is at the forefront of wood technology.
“The future of our economy is innovation,” Dagher said. “We employ only the most team-oriented and committed students, who have shown excellent work in the class room; to our projects.” When the Army came to the AEWC for help redesigning the structures that housed the troops, weapons, and other supplies they accepted the challenge.
According to Parent, “they might even have to change up some nursery rhymes after the work we’ve accomplished; now the big bad wolf won’t be able to huff and puff and blow the second pig’s house down because we can reinforce those sticks.”
Bangor Daily News