WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH NAVAL FACILITIES ENGINEERING SERVICE CENTER NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING AND TECHNOLOGY MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY AMOCO POLYMERS, INC. November 13, 1997 MEDIA CONTACTS: WSU -- Nancy Hilliard, 509/335-5095, [email protected]; Mike Wolcott,
509/335-6392, [email protected] Amoco -- Bill Stephens, public affairs, 770/512-6856, Atlanta, GA, [email protected] Office of Naval Research -- Public Affairs Office, Arlington, VA, Norman Hansen, 703/696-4917, or Loretta Desio, 703/696-5032, [email protected] Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center -- Lori Lee, [email protected], 805/982-1271, Port Hueneme, Calif. Michigan Technological University -- James Lutzke, 906/487-2343, [email protected] New Mexico Tech -- George Zamora, 505/835-5616, [email protected] RESEARCH, TECH-TRANSFER TEAM MAY REVOLUTIONIZE NAVY PORTS
A unique joint university-industry-government research project demonstrates how innovative "engineered lumber" can bring higher-performing building products to the marketplace in a cost-effective, ecologically sound way.
PULLMAN, Wash.--Experts from several universities, government agencies and industries are teaming up for an all-out attack on the marine elements destroying the nation's piers and ports.
The Office of Naval Research this month awarded the first $2.5 million of a three-year $7.5 million contract to the multidisciplinary team of Washington State University's Wood Materials Engineering Laboratory, Michigan Technological University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Amoco Polymers, Inc. of Georgia and the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) in California. The team will use the funds to develop a new hybrid wood-based material impervious to marine borers, water logging and many other destructive elements of the marine environment. -over-
Research, Tech-Transfer Team--2
The engineered pier components made of thermoplastic wood may supplant the need for creosote- or pesticide-treated timber. They will be used for pilings, wales, chocks and camels for a new generation of concrete pier fendering systems to replace decaying wood in the majority of the U.S. Navy's waterfront facilities. As many as 8,000 tons of timber could be removed each year as the Navy transitions these timbers that have been treated with creosote, pesticides, preservatives or other environmentally compromising substances. As much as $1 billion in structural deficiencies affect current Navy shore facilities, most of which were established in the 1940s.
"The results will be cleaner harbors and more durable piers that can handle increased loads and have longer lives and less upkeep," said Mike Wolcott, WSU wood materials engineer and principal investigator for the project. WSU will use $1 million of the contract for project startup and testing. "The thermoplastic wood composite simplistically speaking is ground up plastic and sawdust reinforced with carbon fiber for strength," says Wolcott. The objectives are to create cost-effective, stiff and strong yet flexible, long-lasting and environmentally safe timbers approximately 3-4-feet in diameter, which also can hold nails and have minimal water absorption and swelling.
Similar engineered materials are emerging on the commercial market in such applications as doors, windows, siding, flooring and decking. However, this scientific research and technology transfer will take the material to a major load-bearing application, which is expected to be patented. Testing will include economic feasibility studies, optimizing shapes for particular functions and the feasibility of recycling the old chemically treated timbers back into the product. "The technology transfer is expected to result in additional industrial uses for carbon fiber," said Mike Michno, manager of technology acquisition and development of Amoco Polymers, Inc. in Alpharetta, Ga. Amoco is the largest producer of carbon fibers in the U.S., and a leading polymer producer in the world. It will contribute carbon fibers (manufactured at its South Carolina plant), polypropylene and some extrusion equipment for the project. The company will help develop and test the materials both in Alpharetta and at a temporary site at WSU's Research and Technology Park. -more-
Research, Tech-Transfer Team--3
NFESC, at Port Hueneme just north of Los Angeles, will play a key role in transferring the technology to Naval waterfront sites. It will define Navy performance requirements, determine loading characteristics, model structural performance and provide a demonstration model of the fendering system at its advanced waterfront technology test site.
Michigan Tech researchers specialize in the bioremediation of creosote-treated wood, and will focus on the recycling component to reuse creosote-treated wood removed in the project. New Mexico Tech's chemistry faculty will apply thermoplastic grafting of wood fibers and use a coupling agent to recycle and form construction materials for the waterfront structures. The technology developed for grafting wood or making it compatible with other materials can be used by the Navy to convert its old wood into source fiber for wood/plastic composites for reuse in waterfront structures. Strandex Corp. of Wisconsin developed the product experimentally using extrusion and has the patent on it.
Legislators sponsored the joint efforts that harness the top researchers, industry practitioners and Navy operations in this field in the country. Principal congressional sponsors were Washington's George Nethercutt, Adam Smith, Doc Hastings, Norm Dicks, Slade Gorton and Patty Murray; and South Carolina's Strom Thurmond and John Spratt. Nethercutt said the developing composite "has significant promise for marine applications, allowing the Navy to replace decaying pilings with strong, water-resistant material free of creosote, which will improve the water quality in our harbors." nh144-97
-over-
Primary researchers: WSU: Mike Wolcott, WSU's Louisiana-Pacific Professor in Wood Materials and Engineering and co-investigator for the new project, came to WSU two years ago from West Virginia University, where in 1991 he received the George Marra Award for excellence in wood science and research. He will lead a team of six other WSU engineering faculty researchers on the project. (509/335-5095, [email protected])
MICHIGAN TECH Douglas Gardner is acting coordinator of MTU's wood science program and acting director of its Institute of Wood Research. He won the 1992 Cahn Award for significant contribution to science and technology at West Virginia University. (906/487-2911, [email protected])
Gary McGinnis, professor, MTU School of Forestry and Wood Products, former leader of the Mississippi State Forest Products Lab, has won awards for faculty achievement and outstanding teaching. (906/487-3188, [email protected])
NFESC Javier Malvar, research engineer in materials and structures, has technical expertise in composite applications in waterfront infrastructure. (805/982-4234)
David Pendleton, research biologist and project manager involved in Navy waterfront wood research, revisionist of the Military's Waterfront Maintenance Handbook. (805/982-1447)
NEW MEXICO TECH John Meister, associate professor of polymer and analytical chemistry at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, leads a research group that studies alteration of biomass to useful products. The team is developing ways to convert wood and lignin waste from agricultural and forestry operations into products that, combined with complex polymers, are applicable products for the market. Current work deals with wood-reinforced thermoplastic composites and recycling processes. (505/835-5304, [email protected])
AMOCO Polymers Inc. players are Mike Michno, manager of technology acquisition and development, [email protected], Julian Houston, government contracts administrator and project manager, [email protected], and Stuart Mitchell, manager, carbon fiber research and development, stuart x [email protected], Alpharetta, GA. (770/772-8591)
RSS