B65D2519/00477

Composite concrete pallet

A composite pallet is made of concrete. The concrete material can include various concrete mixtures, such as Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) or an Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC). It also can include microspheres. The concrete material can be cast in a mold or formed via an extrusion process and then cured. The pallet components can include a core material that can form various voids or cavities. The core material can include polystyrene foam, and the foam forms a honeycomb, which is then filled with the concrete material. The concrete material can also be dyed to create different colors to identify the pallets. The pallets can further include plastic and/or rubber bumpers on the corners and/or edges to prevent or minimize chipping. The resulting pallet can be cured using carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) curing which reduces the cure time to about an hour or less.

PALLET AND METHOD OF MAKING A PALLET

A method of making a pallet (10, 210) includes providing a pallet inner core (16, 218), and attaching, by adhesive, first and second complementarily shaped plastic skin shells (12, 14, 226) to portions of the core, and interconnecting the shells by heat fusing or interlocking elements. Each shells is formed of two plastic materials. The core is formed with reinforcing truss beams (700) therein, each having an upper chord part (710) which is flush with an upper surface of the core and in contact with the upper shell or adhesive. Each beam has webs (708) connected to chords, straight central portions (702) and end portions (704) extending downwardly into leg portions of the pallet. Also disclosed is a pallet having such features.