Description

The Hardwood species used in imported exterior plywood are sourced from sustainable forests internationally. Exterior plywood has many applications including boats, furniture fabrication and door skins.

AA/AC/BC Exterior Hoop Pine Plywood                                          Standard: AS/NZS 2271
Appearance	Description	Grade	Thickness	Length x Width   (mm)	Applications
	AA/AC or BC Exterior hoop pine plywood with ‘A’ bond exterior glue suitable in marine applications, shopfitting and cabinet making. Stable Hoop Pine construction with high appearance grade face and lesser grade back. Hoop pine provides an excellent substrate for high quality exterior paint.	‘A’ face ‘C’ back F17	9mm 12mm 19mm	2400 x 1200 2400 x 1200 2400 x 1200	Marine Cladding Walls Ceiling Furniture
SS/SC/SD Exterior Radiata Plywood                                          Standard: AS/NZS 2271
Appearance	Description	Grade	Thickness	Length x Width (mm)	Applications
	SS/SC or SD Exterior Radiata  pine plywood using ‘A’ bond glue with a high quality ‘B’ face suitable for painting with ‘C’ grade back.	‘S’ face ‘C’ back	9mm 12mm 17mm	2400 x 1200 2400 x 1200 2400 x 1200	Furniture Walls Cladding Roof lining Cladding
BB/CC Exterior Hardwood Plywood
Appearance	Description	Grade	Thickness	Length x Width (mm)	Applications
	Exterior hardwood plywood using ‘A’ bond/WBP glue line. Both hardwood faces are sanded to produce a durable surface ideal for exterior, exposed applications. ‘BB’ faces may have small filled and sanded imperfections. ‘CC’ back may have rough patches and filled splits. Colour varies from dark red to light blonde	‘BB’ face ‘CC’ back	3.6mm  6mm  9mm 12mm 15mm 18mm 25mm 32mm	2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220	Cladding Walls
Overlay Exterior Hardwood Plywood
Appearance	Description	Grade	Thickness	Length x Width (mm)	Applications
	Overlay and Better (OVL/BTR) grade exterior hardwood plywood using ‘A’ bond glue. Made using may veneers creating higher stress grade plywood. It is an appearance grade plywood that is suitable for Paper Overlay applications OVL/BTR	OVL & BTR	6mm  9mm 15mm 18mm	3050 x 1220 3050 x 1220 3050 x 1220 3050 x 1220	Paper overlay interior finish
Container Ply Flooring Exterior Hardwood
Appearance	Description	Grade	Thickness	LengthxWidth (mm)	Applications
	Exterior hardwood plywood made for container flooring. A durable plywood made with ‘A’ bond glue for resistance against weathering and moisture	OVL & BTR	18mm 28mm	2440 x 1220 2440 x 1220	Container flooring

Technical

For more information, please download the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

 exterior_plywood-austral 27.05 Kb

 exterior_radiata_ply-arauco 13.77 Kb

The strongest, lightest, most versatile utility and decorative product made from a renewable resource, plywood is kilo for kilo stronger than steel. Plywood was the first type of engineered wood to be invented. It is made from thin sheets of wood veneer, called plies or veneers. These are stacked together with the direction of each ply’s grain differing from its neighbours’ by 90° (cross banding). The plies are bonded under heat and pressure with strong adhesives, usually phenol formaldehyde resin, making plywood a type of composite material. Laminating an odd number of plies (3, 5, 7...) reduces warping while increasing the number of plies increases the resistance to shearing forces. A common reason for using plywood instead of plain wood is its resistance to cracking, shrinkage, twisting/warping, and its general high degree of strength.

BENEFITS OF PLYWOOD
Renewable Resource - A natural product from a renewable resource.
Beautiful - Preferred because of its warmth and natural markings.
Strength - Unique cross-layered structure makes it kilo for kilo, stronger than steel.
Efficiency - Uses more of the log than timber.
Versatility - Can be bent and formed to meet various sizes and shapes.
Durability - Long-lasting and good resistance to damage.

TYPES OF PLYWOOD
Plywood can be broadly classed as either ‘Exterior’ plywood or ‘Interior’ plywood. Veneer quality, glue type and timber species are the major contributing factors that determine the application of a plywood panel.

VENEER QUALITY
Plywood is classified according to grades, which are based on face and back veneer quality. 

Most local plywood conforms to the PAA standard with imported plywood in compliance with other grading standards such as:

BB/CC grade which conforms to the Japan Plywood Inspection Corporation (JPIC) standard. BB/CC grade plywood has a good face that may have small
imperfections that are filled and sanded. ‘CC’ back may have rough patches and filled splits.
Overlay and Better (OVL/BTR) is more of an appearance grade plywood that conforms to the International Hardwood Product Association (IHPA) that uses
more veneer in construction to produce higher stress grade plywood.


GLUE BONDS
Glues used to bond veneers together are an element that influences the application of the plywood. Common glues are as follows:

‘A Bond’ (WBP) - a waterproof glue line produced from phenolic resins (WBP -Water Boil Proof adhesive) that will not deteriorate under extreme conditions. It is readily recognisable by its black colour. Type A bond is specified in AS/NZS 2272 for marine plywood.

‘B Bond’ - produced from melamine fortified urea formaldehyde resin and suitable for limited exposure.

‘C&D Bond’ – is produced from urea formaldehyde resin and suitable for interior use only.


AS/NZS STANDARDS
Structural Plywood manufactured to AS/NZS 2269 Plywood - Structural is suitable for use in all permanent structural applications. A permanent Type A phenolic resin is used to bond the individual timber veneers. The Type A bond is distinctly dark in colour and is durable and permanent under conditions of full weather exposure, long term stress and combinations of exposure and stress.

Structural plywood is manufactured from a range of softwood and hardwood timber species. These timber species may not be durable when used in weather exposed situations. In exposed applications, structural plywood must be preservative treated to ensure it lasts its full service life and surface finished to minimise surface checking.

PAA branded structural plywood is manufactured under a rigorous product quality control and product certification system ensuring a quality controlled engineered panel of known and consistent physical and mechanical properties.

For assured performance, structural plywood should be branded with the ‘PAA Tested’ stamp.
The engineering properties of structural plywood are tabulated in both AS/NZS 2269 and AS1720.1. Structural plywood engineering properties are given for eight standard stress grades, F7, F8, F11, F14, F17, F22, F27 & F34.