Wood Based Composite Materials

The Wood Based Composite Material 3 hour PDH online course is a part of the Materials category courses. This course provides guidance on wood based composite materials, comprising of wide range products from fiberboard to laminated beams.

The term composite is being used to describe any wood material adhesively bonded together. Wood-based composites are used for a number of nonstructural and structural applications in product lines ranging from panels for interior covering purposes to panels for exterior uses and in furniture and support structures in buildings.

This course gives an overview of the general types and composition of wood-based composite products and the materials and processes used to manufacture them. It provides guidance on conventional wood-based composite panels and structural composite materials intended for general construction, interior use, or both. It also describes wood–nonwood composites.

This course is based on Chapters 11 and 12 of the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory General, Technical Report FPL–GTR–190 “Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material”

This course is intended for use by civil and structural engineers, materials engineers, design and construction professionals, students and others interested in learning about wood based composite materials.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• List and discuss conventional wood based composite panels such as plywood, OSB, Particleboard, fiberboard and specialty composite materials
• Explain advantages, types of, standards and specifications and manufacturing process of glulam timbers
• Describe structural composite lumber, its advantages, standards and specifications
• List and discuss wood-nonwood composite materials
• Describe mechanical properties, such as elastic and strength properties, of wood-based composite materials
• Discuss wood-based composite products
• List and discuss testing standards used in manufacturing of wood-based composite products