It’s from one-third to half the weight of particleboard but there’s nothing lightweight about the product’s potential impact on the North American board industry. 

Lightweight board could potentially replace up to 50 percent of thick board in North America, say its proponents. In thicknesses upwards of 3/4 in. (19 mm), lightweight panels maximize their weight advantages and become stiff competition for equivalent particleboard panels. At that thickness range, lightweight board production costs are competitive with particleboard.

Lightweight board also addresses critical particleboard industry concerns including fiber supply and transportation costs. Plus, the product offers the design community the means to tempt consumers with new and innovative furniture products. 

But so far, lightweight board hasn’t taken off in the North American furniture market. That may soon change. Factors like diminishing fiber supply and rising energy and transportation costs could mean that lightweight board is evolving from an interesting idea to an unavoidable option.

Torsten Lihra, a group leader for value-added products with research organization FPInnovations-Forintek, which sponsored a lightweight board seminar in Toronto last fall, said that in “the actual economic situation and the difficulties our industry is going through, it’s even more important than it always was to innovate, to differentiate our products and to be stronger and more competitive.” Lightweight panels are a new kind of product and may be a way to do that. 

In his written introduction to the seminar, Lihra notes that, “The manufacturing costs of these panels are competitive with those of panels manufactured with traditional materials and their mechanical properties are very interesting.”

When Ikea’s iconic “Lack” table came on the scene in the 1980s, the furniture industry in Europe began to open up to using lightweight board. 

A major leap forward came in 2006 when the Egger Group, based in St. Johann, Austria, pioneered large-scale frameless lightweight board production by launching its Eurolight® line. Egger, still the leading producer, was instrumental in further developing and advancing the product and the market. Siempelkamp Handling Systems (SHS) was the groundbreaker in developing the production machinery and technology.

Today, Eurolight® is a “sandwich” construction using surface layers of very rigid Eurospan® 2000 particleboard face layers in 3, 4 or 8 mm thicknesses, and a cardboard honeycomb core. A wide range of Eurolight® products are available, from “raw” coreboard to painting grade to finished with decor surfaces. The product offers major benefits, says the company.

As well as being lightweight (50 percent lighter than particleboard of the same thickness), it also reduces wood use, which in turn means a reduction in material, transport and logistic costs. From an aesthetic point of view, distinctive styles in thicknesses which previously would have been impractical, can be created.

Eurolight® boards open up new opportunities for the furniture construction and interior fittings markets, says Egger, offering a range of solutions for exhibition fittings, tables, shelves, office furnishings, contemporary living concepts and kitchens and worktops.