Engineered wood fibre for a new generation of biocomposites

• Environmentally Fit • Industrially Friendly • Superior Performance

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About Woodforce

Engineered Wood Fibre for the New Generation of Biocomposites.Woodforce, the engineered diced pellet that delivers exceptional polymer reinforcement to Polyolefin compounds.

This new-patented technology offers many advantages including both weight and cost savings with design opportunities unrivalled in the natural fibre sector.

Woodforce is neither a by-product nor a residue, it is an industrially engineered wood based product that offers Natural Strength for Plastics.

As a dynamic wood-based product capable of acting as a mechanical reinforcer for thermoplastic polymers, Woodforce dramatically improves the targeted properties of plastic resin.

It is a bio-sourced and renewable mechanical reinforcer that is compatible with an industrial process; has proven performance and favourable economics previously unavailable.

Woodforce can replace glass fibre for short fibre applications. Compared to agricultural fibres, Woodforce is an ideal solution from an industrial perspective. Non-seasonal, it has efficient supply chain management and is extremely friendly, due to the perfect dosing of the diced pellets.

Woodforce is part of the Sonae Indústria Group, one of the largest wood product manufacturers in the world.

Capable of drawing from 26 production plants across Europe, Canada and South Africa, Sonae Indústria’s innovative product development and reliability are just two of the features that help make Woodforce work.

Global Reach

Woodforce is part of the Sonae Indústria Group, one of the largest wood processors in the world

Black Woodforce

Natural Woodforce

• 26 Production Sites• 5,000 Employees• Processing 7,000,000 tonnes of wood per year

Environmentally Fit

Environm

entally Fit

Green Future

Being green is the future. It is in the fabric of key business strategies, and now with Woodforce, bio-sourced reinforcement provides a significant opportunity to promote the true green capabilities of your company.

Woodforce is a USDA biobased productWoodforce is now approved for the USDA BioPreferred® program. With an increased use, biobased products will be expected to reduce petroleum consumption, increase the use of renewable resources, better manage the carbon cycle, and may contribute to reducing adverse environmental and health impacts.

Renewable and Sustainable (wood accounts for 96% of the product)

Our wood fibre is traceable to certified forests (like FSC and PEFC), guaranteeing that proper sustainable forestry standards are in place.

Great Carbon Footprint and Great Life Cycle Analysis

The Woodforce production process consumes far less energy than that of glass fibre production. Our wood is sourced locally within 100km of the plants, and wood fibre by its very nature, is a renewable resource capturing and storing CO² thus contributing to improve the environment.

Forestry does not use pesticides and fertilisers, so there is no risk of eutrophication in local water bodies. Industrial use of forest products does not create competition with food production as it does with agricultural fibres.

Our supply chain is extremely efficient. Our own manufacturing relies upon a two-week wood inventory on our site, because wood harvesting and supply is all year round, every week and every day.

Recyclability and Favourable End of Life OptionsThermoplastics reinforced with Woodforce have a far superior recyclability than fibreglass filled compounds.

After two cycles, Woodforce retains a much higher level of mechanical properties than glass fibre compounds. Woodforce is also superior to the other natural fibres tested.

At the end of its life, thermoplastic reinforced with wood fibre can be burnt to generate energy.

Compared to PP Alone

Energy Consumption

NR (MJ eq)

Material Consumption

(kg Sb eq)

Green House Effect GWP

100 Mod (kg CO² eq)

Acidification (kg SO² eq)

Eutrophication (Air, Water,

Soil) (kg PO4 eq)

Photochemical Pollution

(kg C2H4)

Aquatic Ecotocixity

(Kg 1.4 DB eq)

Human Toxicity (kg 1.4 DB eq)

PP+ Glass Fibre 30% + + = (-) (-) (-) (-) (--)

PP+ Woodforce 30% ++ ++ ++ ++ + ++ + +

Life Cycle Analysis

Wood fibre by its very nature is a renewable resource

PEFC/10-4-8

FSC-COC-000253FSC-CW-000253

Source: Agrocomposites Entreprises

Industrially Friendly Industrially Friendly

Natural Product with an Industrial Fit

Until Woodforce, natural fibre industrial processing had been a major barrier to mass-market applications. Woodforce is the product that perfectly suits your existing industrial reality.

Minimising potential health and safety issues, Woodforce is compatible with your existing extrusion equipment, and compatible with global and large-scale industrial operations.

Ready and Easy to UseUsing the MDF panel making process followed by dicing, Woodforce is very easy to dose during the extrusion process. With Woodforce there are no complications. Woodforce is used with standard dosing equipment and does not require any chopping or preparation.

Zero clumps and bridges make it is easy to meter with good flow ability, so that bio-sourced reinforcement does not result in inefficient compounding operations.

Independent testing has proven the superiority of Woodforce with standard dosing equipment:

•Repeatability: 99% dosing accuracy based on 30 consecutive trials

•Stability: Only 0.03% deviation from the set point after 30 minutes

Source: K-Tron

Favourable Health and Safety ProfileOur production process removes dust that is normally created from processing wood. The dice is engineered to consist only of real fibres, so that Woodforce is not dusty.

Unlike wood floor (sawdust), using Woodforce does not create fire and explosion risks for your business and your staff.

When comparing Woodforce to the prominent glass fibre, it is undoubtedly the safe and natural alternative for industrial environments, making bio-sourced reinforcement the true health and safety solution in your production site.

Reduced Equipment WearUsing wood fibre is significantly softer on tools, screws and barrels, hot runners, and grinders (recycling). Your equipment life will be approximately 20% longer when you use Woodforce compared to the use of glass fibre, meaning with Woodforce, your get a higher return on investment from your industrial assets.

Very easy to dose during the extrusion process

• No chopping or preparation

• Zero clumps or bridges

• Not dusty

• Softer on tools

Superior Performance

Superior P

erformance

Efficient Performance

The ability to perform efficiently is what we all strive for. We can only achieve this through the preparation, the organisation and the right equipment. When you have a decision to make, the right one for plastics is Woodforce.

Superior Mechanical PropertiesWoodforce is scientifically proven to deliver superior mechanical properties. The performance of Woodforce is equal to that of standard glass fibre in short fibre applications.

Woodforce is the result of ten years of development validated by many independent research institutions. The end result is an engineered wood fibre delivering great improvements in tensile and flexural performance.

Woodforce is compatible with the major polymers, PP and PE, as well as ABS and PLA.

Consistent Properties

Our sophisticated production process guarantees Woodforce dice are always consistently performing, contaminant-free with stable fibre sizes and have constant moisture content year-round.

We have a very stable wood fibre mix, as our timber is historically sourced from our natural wood basket within a 100km radius around the plant.

Woodforce is engineered to include a dispersant in order to obtain an optimal dispersion in the matrix, so that bio-sourced reinforcement no longer means inconsistent performance and questionable aesthetics.

Enhanced DesignWoodforce has a major benefit in relation to pigments and dyes, as refined wood fibres are more homogeneously and cost-efficiently coloured than wood or natural fibres.

Fibre dying during Woodforce manufacturing ensures a superior finish for injection moulded parts, compared to a traditional colour master-batch approach during compounding. The result is an enhanced use of colouration that provides significant design opportunities in multiple colours.

The colouration process is a built-in process to dye the product during the process of making the dice.

Using automotive applications as an example, Woodforce Black provides a superior finish to moulded parts (hiding the fibre completely) and opens up the potential for use in visible applications, so that bio-sourced reinforcement is no longer restricted to hidden parts.

Weight Reduction

Wood fibre allows a significant weight reduction of reinforced plastics with equal mechanical properties relative to similar applications with glass or minerals.

Wood fibre density is significantly less than that of glass fibre and mineral fillers. At equal mechanical properties, Woodforce reinforced parts or products will enjoy anywhere from 10 – 15% weight reduction potential.

Physical Properties (Units)

Standard Reference

0%

20-25%

30%

35-40%

Density g.cm-3

ISO 1183 ASTM D792 0.89 0.97-1 1.01-1.02 1.01-1.07

Tensile Strength MPa (psi)

ISO 527 ASTM D638

25 (3600)

35-41(5100-6000)

42-46(6100-6700)

43-50(6200-7200)

Tensile Modulus MPa (Kpsi) 1300

(200)2100-3100(300-450)

2800-3400

(400-500)

3400-4700(500-700)

Flexural Strength MPa (psi)

ISO 178 ASTM D790

40(5800)

51-60(7400-8700)

61-65(8850-9400)

66-80(9600-11600)

Flexural Modulus MPa (Kpsi) 1600

(230)2500- 2900(360-400)

3000-3200

(430-460)

3400-4600(500-670)

IZOD Impact Notched KJ/m2 (ft/lb.-in) ISO 180

ASTM D256

6(1,14)

4,9-5(0,93-0,95)

4,37-5(0,83-0,95)

4,5-6*(0,85-1,14*)

Heat Deflection Temperature °C (°F) ISO 75

64(147) - -

125-133(257-271,4)

PP– Woodforce Loading

Typical Properties of PP Compounds Reinforced with Woodforce

40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Polypropylene(PP) Alone

PP+ 20%Woodforce

PP+ 30%Woodforce

PP+ 40%Woodforce

PP+ 20%Glass Fibre

Tensile Strength %

Great Tensile Properties

Le Creusot

Woodforce PlantThe Le Creusot plant in France, which is ISO 9001 certified, has been chosen to be the first production site for Woodforce.

It has 2.2 million square feet of land, a 214,000 square foot production plant and 120 on-site employees. In 2012 its production capacity stands at 130,000 tonnes per year.

Le C

reus

ot

European Office

Sonae Indústria c/o Isoroy Z.I. De Torcy - BP 54 Torcy 71210 Montchanin France

Phone: + 33 6 32 65 07 81

North American Office

Sonae Indústria c/o Tafisa 729 Avenue Meloche Dorval (Québec) H9P 2S4 Canada

Phone: +1 514 780 1324

Customer Services

Phone: + 33 3 85 77 53 23 Fax: + 33 3 85 77 53 34 Email: info@woodforce.com

www.woodforce.com | www.sonaeindustria.com

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Commercial Enquiries

Printed on recycled stock

Woodforce is certified to:

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