Deflection characteristics and heat transfer of plywood for wood-based flooring by cross-band veneer composition

Since the 1990s, there has been an increased customer demand for plywood flooring in Korea. The raw material and production costs have increased because of the changed environment of the industry. The tropical timber used as raw flooring material, such as Red Meranti (Shorea acuminate), has been depleted. In addition, countries in Southeast Asia have changed the species used in afforestation. As a result, it has become harder to secure good quality raw materials for plywood. Moreover, plywood prices increased suddenly after the earthquake in Japan. In China, Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) has been used as a raw material as a countermeasure to the changed environment of the industry. In this study, the possibility of using flooring consisting of a Eucalyptus veneer in cross-bands was examined using several experiments. Flooring consisting of Red Meranti was used for comparison. Two factors were found to have an impact on the deflection and heat transfer: the type of density gradient and the density difference between a longgrain veneer and short-grain veneer.