HARCVitec Applications

The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) was funded by private industry to evaluate and establish a process to chemically modify both wood and engineered wood composites. The research indicated that chemical modification is particularly suited to fibreboards because of their absorptive properties, the lower raw material cost and the relatively larger improvements in material properties. Several chemicals for the modification process were evaluated and a solvent-free polymeric MDI was selected. The process is a method to modify existing cellulose-based fibreboard including MDF and HDF made from pine, hardwoods, or fibre created from agriculture fibre. The process can be used with engineered wood composites or fibreboards made from alternative fibre sources including post-consumer waste products. The modified fibreboards (substrate) are trade marked HARCwood®.

The patented HARCwood process is:

  1. A post-production treatment of engineered wood products
  2. A sustainable means of enhancing the properties of engineered wood products
  3. A simple and faster method of production
  4. Environmentally safer than other technologies
  5. A huge improvement over other post-treatment processes