Host: Japanese Society for the Science of Design
Wooden furniture tends to be heavy due to the use of weighty wood materials. For this reason, there are several reports of injuries and deaths caused by furniture in recent large earthquakes. In this research, we developed lightweight wood materials for making furniture that reduces damage when falling. As a method to reduce material weight, laminated wood made of softwood was produced and subjected to bending strength and joint strength tests. As a result, it was found that laminated wood made by spruce laminated on Sugi or Hinoki showed high strength and had a lower relative density than existing laminated wood. The next step of this research will be to prototype furniture using the developed lightweight laminated wood, and conduct impact resistance tests.
