In the automotive industry increased public interest in green technologies combined with stringent environmental policies are leading to the need for light-weight vehicles with a reduced global environmental impact. The global warming potential (GWP) can be used as one indicator of sustainability. The GWP must be reduced throughout the whole product life time: in the manufacturing, the operating as well as the recycling phase. While the reduction of GWP in the operating phase is mostly addressed through electrification of the power train, the manufacturing and recycling phase are not yet considered enough.

With this motivation, a strand-based material has been developed for semi-structural applications. Depending on the operation purpose and its requirements, the wood content can be adjusted between 60 and 75 %. The material is manufactured using hot press moulding that enables complex geometries, thin ribs and wall thicknesses as well as short cycle times. Tapping into unused sources, the material can be made from residual and waste wood that otherwise would only be utilized thermally. Recycling of the developed material has also been investigated and confirmed further reducing the environmental impact and increasing sustainability.

The talk provides an overview of the mechanical properties of the material developed in the project “HyEnd-Wood” that is funded by German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Tensile strength and fatigue strengths are determined after production and compared to those after aging test according to industry standard. The effect of a hydrophobic finish on the mechanical properties before and after aging is also examined. Finally, different joining techniques are also investigated in order to enable the connection to surrounding structures and promote its possible use.