WOOD-PLASTIC HYBRID COMPONENT

Abstract

A wood-plastic hybrid component includes a wood part and a form-fit plastic part. The wood part includes a structural zone having a machine-deformed and closed surface structuring with machined recesses. The plastic part includes a form-fitting zone with elevations that engage into the complementary recesses of the surface structuring, such that a full-surface form fit is realized in the transverse direction in relation to the recesses.

Claims

1. A wood-plastic hybrid component comprising: a wood part including a structural zone having a machine-deformed and closed surface structuring with machined recesses, and a plastic part including a form-fitting zone with elevations that engage into the machined recesses of the surface structuring, such that a full-surface form fit is realized in a transverse direction in relation to the recesses.

2. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein the recesses have a pattern.

3. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein the recesses have a depth that is at most 15% of a material thickness of the wood part in a region of the structural zone.

4. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein the wood part is formed from a panel-shaped wood body, and the structural zone is formed over a full surface in a wood body edge region.

5. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein the wood part in a region of surface structuring is made of solid wood, and the surface structuring is not manufactured in a material-lifting manner.

6. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein the structural zone is at least 10% larger than the form-fitting zone.

7. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein, in a region of the form-fitting zone, there is no material bonding between the wood part and the plastic part.

8. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein the wood-plastic hybrid component is a semi-finished product.

9. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1, wherein structural zone is disposed in an edge region on both sides of the wood part, which structural zone is form-fit on both sides of the wood part with corresponding form-fitting zones by the plastic part, wherein the wood part additionally comprises through-holes that are filled with the plastic part so that both form-fitting zones of the plastic part are materially bonded.

10. The wood-plastic hybrid component according to claim 1 consisting of the wood part and the form-fit plastic part.

11. A method for manufacturing a wood-plastic hybrid component comprising (i) a wood part including a structural zone having a closed surface structuring with recesses, and (ii) a plastic part including a form-fitting zone with elevations that engage into the recesses of the closed surface structuring, such that a full-surface form fit is realized in a transverse direction in relation to the recesses, said method including the following steps: a. providing at least one wood semi-finished product, b. introducing recesses into the wood semi-finished product for creating the wood part, c. loading the wood part into an injection molding or pressing tool, and d. manufacturing the plastic part by either an injection molding process or pressing process.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the recesses are formed by knurling with a roller or by a pressure punch in an on-off tool.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be explained in further detail in the following with reference to the drawings. The figures show:

[0020] FIG. 1 a wood-plastic hybrid component according to aspects of the invention in a perspective view consisting of a wood part and a plastic part,

[0021] FIG. 2 a cross-section of the wood-plastic hybrid component of FIG. 1 in the region of the connection between the wood part and the plastic part, and

[0022] FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c the wood part of FIGS. 1 and 2 with differently designed structural zones.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] FIGS. 1 and 2 show a part of a wood-plastic hybrid component 10, which in the present case is a semi-finished product for the manufacture of a component of a motor vehicle. The hybrid component 10 consists of a board-like wood part 30 and a plastic part 20 connected thereto in a form-fitting manner.

[0024] The rectangular wood part 30 is formed from a wood body 31 made of solid wood, for example beech, oak, spruce, pine, balsa, or bamboo wood.

[0025] The plastic part 20 consists of an integral plastic body 21, which is fork-like when viewed in a cross-sectional plane XY and comprises two fork arms. The plastic body 21 is made of a thermoplastic, for example polypropylene, polyamide, or a biopolymer. The plastic portion 20 can be short fiber-reinforced, long fiber-reinforced, or continuous fiber-reinforced. In particular, carbon fibers, aramid fibers, glass fibers, basalt fibers, or natural fibers are considered as reinforcing fibers.

[0026] The edge strip or edge region of the wood part 30 has a structural zone 32 which has an exclusively machined and closed surface structuring 33 with machined recesses 34. The surface structuring 33 can be produced by, for example, knurling, stamping, or structural rolling.

[0027] The plastic part 20 comprises a corresponding fork-shaped form-fitting zone 22, in which the two proximal fork finger sides facing the wood part 30 have elevations 24, which engage into the complementary recesses of the surface structure 33 over the full surface. A laminar form fit is thereby realized on both sides in the edge region of the wood part 30, which acts in the two transverse directions X, Z in relation to the recesses 34. There is no material closure between the wood part 30 and the plastic part 20, in particular in the region of the form-fitting zone 22.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 2, the structural zone 32 in the direction of the center of the wood part is approximately 40% larger in area than the corresponding form-fitting zone 22 of the plastic part 20. The recesses 34 on both sides have a depth Y34, which in the present case is approximately 10% of the total material thickness Y30 of the wood part 30 in the region of the structural zone 32.

[0029] In order to produce the wood-plastic hybrid component 10, the surface structuring 33 is first machined into the wood part 30 in its peripheral region on both sides, for example by structural rollers. The wood part 30 machined in this manner is then loaded into an injection molding tool, and the injection molding tool is closed. The injection molding process is then carried out, in which the plastic part 20, and in particular the form-fitting zone 22, is formed. After curing of the plastic part 20, the wood-plastic hybrid component is available as a semi-finished product.

[0030] Alternatively, the manufacture of the plastic part 20 can also be carried out by pressing a pressable plastic semi-finished product.

[0031] FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c show a wood part 30, in each case with an alternative surface structuring 33, 33, 33: In FIG. 3a, the surface structuring 33 is formed substantially by spherical recesses 34. In FIG. 3b, the surface structuring 33 is formed substantially by rectangular or pyramidal recesses 34. In FIG. 3c, the surface patterning 33 is formed by grooved recesses 34 that are substantially parallel to one another, wherein the longitudinal directions of the grooved recesses 34 extend approximately parallel to the adjacent edge of the wood part 30.