Application of plastic wood in modular furniture
Monday, July 10, 20231.Modular furniture modeling of plastic wood materials
The material and shape of furniture are closely related, they are interrelated and restrict each other. The perfect shape of the utopia may not be realized. This requires designers to fully understand the material characteristics and processing technology of plastic wood, and create the optimal combination of modular furniture shape and function. The main molding methods of wood-plastic materials are: extrusion molding, injection molding, and compression molding. Extrusion molding is the most widely used mainstream molding method for wood-plastic materials, which is mainly used for: profiles, pipes, plates, etc. The physical properties of wood-plastic materials are compared with wood, mainly because the bending strength and force bearing of wood-plastic materials are inferior to wood.
The shape of furniture can be roughly divided into two types: linear and curved. Straight-line furniture gives people a sense of solemnity, stability, calm, simplicity, and rationality, while curved furniture gives people a sense of flow, fun, lively, elegant and rhythmic. Due to the constraints of the processing technology and physical properties of wood-plastic materials, it is difficult to realize the curved structure with complex shapes. The linear modular furniture shape not only adapts to the mainstream aesthetic intention of modern simplicity, but also facilitates the splicing and combination of modular parts. At the same time, it is convenient to process and shape, and it is less challenging to the production process and material properties.
2.Edge treatment of wood-plastic modular furniture
The cutting performance of wood-plastic materials is poor, and it is difficult to obtain a smooth processing surface on the cutting surface. On the basis of understanding the edge treatment process of panel furniture, the edge treatment of plastic wood panels can be used for reference. The edge treatment methods of wood-based panels mainly include:
①Machining method: Due to the constraints of the physical properties and processing performance of plastic-wood materials, the edge treatment of plastic-wood materials by mechanical processing methods cannot achieve the expected results, especially the material hardness and load-bearing capacity of the corner joints will be different. decline.
②Edge banding method: According to different edge banding materials, the edge banding methods are also inconsistent. Generally, edge banding machines can be used for edge banding, or manual ironing can be used for edge banding.
③Wrapping method: For relatively soft film, paper and other veneer materials, the wrapping method can be used to seal the edge. There are two forms, one is that the cladding material only covers the edge, and the other is that it is folded together with the base material. For cladding, the adhesive used is generally hot melt adhesive or urea-formaldehyde resin glue, a mixed glue of urea-formaldehyde resin glue and polyvinyl acetate emulsion, etc., which vary with the cladding material.
④ Finishing method: This method is to paint and close the side of the board with paint, first fill with putty, and then apply primer and topcoat.
3.The connection of plastic-wood modular furniture
Due to the constraints of the physical properties of the wood-plastic material itself, parts are needed to enhance the load-bearing performance, so the connection methods of body-style furniture such as mortise and tenon structure, glue connection, and nail connection are basically excluded in the design, and the method of using metal structural parts is mainly considered. to connect. However, if too many metal parts are used, on the one hand, the overall weight will be increased, which will weaken the advantage of light weight of plastic wood materials, and will also increase the workload of material classification when recycling products. When designing, it is necessary to consider the edge treatment of the plastic wood board and the connection method together, and it is also possible to think from the direction of changing the shape of the wood plastic board under the condition that the processing technology allows.
In the design of modular furniture, we should not only consider the overall finished shape of modular furniture, the shape of single modules, and the shape of materials composed of modules, but also consider the edge processing and connection of materials themselves and the connections between modules. This brings a lot of challenges to designers, and at the same time, it is also an opportunity to solve problems and stimulate innovative practices. Today, when we strive to pay attention to craftsmanship, outstanding style, and advocate frugality and environmental protection, wood-plastic composite materials are a good new choice.