WO1991004196A1

WO1991004196A1 - Flat reusable pallet

Info

Publication number: WO1991004196A1
Application number: PCT/AU1990/000421
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Silady
Original assignee: John Silady
Priority date: 1989-09-18
Filing date: 1990-09-14
Publication date: 1991-04-04

Abstract

A reusable pallet (1) for materials handling of the kind able to support a mass in excess of 2000 Kgs. comprises metal deck-forming members (2) which are connected with metal bearer members (3) by an intermediate layer (14) of a high strength resiliently deformable composition, preferably a polyurethane based composition. Layer (14) is severable for simple, convenient repair.

Description

Title: "FLAT REUSABLE PALLET"

The present invention relates to an improved flat reusable pallet of the type commonly used in industry for materials handling and to a method of manufacture of such pallets.

Reusable pallets of the kind under discussion generally have one or two decks and are provided in "two-way entry" or "four-way entry" types.

Such pallets are typically required to support a mass in excess of 2000 Kgs. when being handled by fork arms or tines, slings with bars, or pallet trucks and to support a mass of at least 10,000 Kgs. when stacked. The pallets are subjected to very rough handling in use and must have a high impact resistance both at the edges and at corners.

It is not unusual to see a pallet rammed by a fork lift tine driven towards the pallet at speed. Because pallets are subjected to repeated stresses and strains throughout their life and undergo much rough handling, it is important that the pallet be of a durable construction and that its life be capable of prolongation by repair when necessary.

Reusable pallets have hitherto been manufactured predominantly from wood. It is estimated that 750 million wooden pallets are in use in the U.S.A. alone. Wooden pallets are constructed from deck boards or "stringers" nailed to wooden bearers. They are relatively heavy for their load bearing capacity, typically weighing about 54 Kgs. when dry and more than 70 Kgs. when wet, requiring two men to lift a pallet. The wood tends to split or splinter in use and is easily damaged. Wooden pallets are a fire hazard and often fuel warehouse fires. Wooden pallets change dimension when wet, are subject to fungal growth, and can only be used with difficulty in clean industries due to the difficulty of sterilization or cleaning. Severely damaged wooden pallets represent a significant disposal problem.

However, wooden pallets have the major advantages of ease of repair. A damaged stringer can be removed and a new stringer can be nailed in place in situ with relative ease by unskilled labour.

There is growing reluctance to use scarce timber resources for pallet construction and various proposals have been made for pallets of metal construction. However, pallets made of heavy gauge steel have tended either to be too costly while those made from lighter gauge steel or from other metals have to date been of insufficient strength.

Metal pallets are also relatively difficult to assemble and repair. Pallets with welded joints are rigid, the resultant pallet lacks shock resistance, suffers metal fatigue and must be returned to a welding shop when repair is necessary. In preference to welding, time consuming and/or expensive fasteners have been used such as bolts, rivets, special clips, tabs, tensioning bars between specially designed end caps and like mechanical means to join pallet components.

In comparison with wooden pallets, such metal pallets have been difficult to repair when damaged since rivet or bolt holes become enlarged with wear. That permits relative movement of parts which can be dangerous and make repair difficult and costly. Such pallets also lack the resilience of wooden pallets and tend to fail at the fastenings under shock or shear loads.

For the above reasons, metal pallets have failed to replace wooden pallets to any significant extent.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved pallet and improved method of pallet manufacture that will avoid or at least ameliorate some of the above discussed disadvantages of the prior art.

According to one aspect the invention consists in a flat reusable pallet for materials handling and able in use to support a mass in excess of 2000 Kgs., said pallet comprising at least two bearer members, at least one deck-forming member extending from one bearer member to the other; and having a layer of high strength resiliently deformable composition intermediate the deck-forming member and each bearer, whereby the deck member is connected to the bearers.

Desirably, the composition layer is severable.

According to a second aspect the invention consists in a flat reusable pallet for materials handling of the kind able in use to support a mass in excess of 2000 Kgs., said pallet comprising bearer members, at least one deck-forming member, and characterized in that the at least one deck-forming member is adhesively bonded to the bearer members.

In preferred embodiments of the invention a plurality of metal deck members are bonded to parallel spaced apart metal bearer members by means of a high strength, flexible polyurethane based adhesive composition.

The adhesive is applied so as to cure a layer of from 0.5 mm to 5.0 mm in average thickness between the deck-forming member and the bearer at the joint of one with the other, and preferably about 1mm to 2 mm in average thickness.

Amazingly, preferred embodiments of the invention are extremely durable and not only resist compressive force of ten tonnes applied to the pallet but withstand 600 Kgs. of tension applied to a single joint between a bearer and a deck member and withstand in excess of 20 tons/pallet of shear force. The cured adhesive composition layer results in deck members being mounted to the bearers with sufficient resilience that the pallet resists shock load and fatigue in rough use while being sufficiently firmly connected to provide satisfactory dimensional stability and rigidity for normal use.

Also, surprisingly pallets according to the invention are capable of repair with great ease. A deck-forming member may simply be severed from the bearer by use of a sharp knife, spatula or cutting wire driven through the adhesive layer, and a fresh or refurbished deck-forming member may be bonded in place with fresh adhesive with little or no further surface preparation. Preferred embodiments of pallets according to the invention may be steam cleaned, are hygienic, do not burn, weigh less than half the weight of a dry wooden pallet, are unaffected by water and can be carried by one man. Rather than causing a disposal problem, severely damaged pallets according to the invention have value as scrap. Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings wherein;

Figure 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of a pallet according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a second embodiment of a pallet according to the invention;

Figures 3, 4, 5 are perspective views showing various decking member end sections suitable for use in the manufacture of pallets according to the invention;

Figure 6 is an end elevation of a portion of the pallet of Figure 1 according to the invention;

Figure 7 shows schematically a side elevation of a portion of the pallet of Figure 1;

Figure 8 shows schematically a portion of a bearer for use in pallets according to the invention;

Figures 9 and 10 show parts of the bearer of Figure 8 in end elevation.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown schematically at 1 a first embodiment of a pallet according to this invention. In this embodiment, the pallet consists of an upper deck comprising a plurality of spaced apart deck-forming members 2 supported by means of three elongate bearers 3. As shown in figures 6 and 7 there is also provided a lower deck comprising a plurality of spaced apart deck-forming members 4. Deck-forming members 2, 4 extend from one pallet side 10 to an opposite pallet side 11 and transverse to bearers 3 which extend from one pallet end 12 to opposite pallet end 13. Bearers 3 are spaced apart one from another, leaving an open passage therebetween into which the tines of a fork lift can be positioned. For a four-way pallet, the bearers may be provided with openings (not illustrated) on the sides.

Figure 2 shows a second embodiment of a pallet. Parts of the pallet of Figure 2 having a function corresponding to those of Figure 1 are identified by like numerals. The pallet of Figure 2 is of similar construction to that of Figure 1 but has only two bearers and the deck members 2 overhang bearers 3 at sides 11 and 12.

Various preferred embodiments of deck-forming members for use in the invention are shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5. The preferred deck-forming members or "stringers" are elongate channel formations of generally "M" shaped end section having parallel side walls 5, flat load bearing deck surfaces 6, and a central leg 7 which may be formed as a "V" shaped channel as shown in figures 3 and 5 or which may be shaped so that leg 7 provides a flat base 8 in the case of the deck-forming member shown in Figure 4. Sidewalls 5 of the deck-forming members are provided with flanges 9 which may be inwardly extending as shown in figures 3, 4 or may be outwardly extending as shown in Figure 5. When the deck-forming member of figures 3 and 5 are supported by flanges 9 on the flat upper surface of a bearer, leg 7 extends downwardly to the bearer surface. In the deck-forming member shown in Figure 4, base 8 is co-planar with flanges 9. The preferred deck-forming members are manufactured by roll forming or press forming a high tensile steel which is coated with zinc aluminium. The steel is desirably John Lysaght Pty. Ltd. G 550 steel of for example from 0.4 mm to 1.2 mm thickness.

Bearers 3 may for example be 'I' shaped beams or may be hollow box section beams or may be any other suitable bearer.

In preferred embodiments of pallets according to the invention, the decking members are bonded to bearers 2 by an adhesive composition 14, without the necessity to use other fasteners. Adhesive 14 is applied to both flanges 9 of deck-forming members 2, 4 and desirably also to the central leg 7 or base 8 of the deck-forming members 2, 4. In the embodiments of figures 3 and 5 each flange 9 is typically 12 mm in width and the central base 8 is typically from 3 mm to 6 mm in width. In the embodiment shown in Figure 4 the flanges 9 and base 8 are each about 25 mm in width. The adhesive composition 14 desirably extends as a respective layer for the full width of each bearer at each respective intersection of a bearer and decking member and in a strip of from 5 mm to 10 mm in width extending longitudinally of flanges 9 and base 9. The adhesive composition has an average layer depth when cured of from 0.5 mm to 5 mm in depth and preferably from about 1 mm to 2mm in depth. However, the adhesive may extend into grooves or other formations on the bearer surface to a greater depth and accommodates to uneven surfaces.

A highly preferred adhesive for adhering decking members 2, 4 to bearers 3 is SIKAFLEX 355 HC. This is a flexible, high strength one-pot polyurethane based adhesive compound which was developed for bonding window screens into vehicle bodies. Technical Data on SIKAFLEX 355 HC is shown in Table I.

TABLE I

Specific Gravity 1.23

Hardness - Shore A 60

Max. tensile strength 81.5 Kg./cm²

Tensile (adhesive) shear strength 56.0 Kg./cm²

Elongation at break 400%

Service temperature -40+ to +90°C

Maximum heat resistance 190°C x 20 min,

210°C x 10 min,

Temp x Time for full cure 140°C x 2 min.

120°C x 5 min.

100°C x 10 min.

80°C x 20 min.

70°C x 50 min.

The adhesive composition can be either hot cured by application of a suitable heat source, for example induction, microwave or radiant heating, to effect complete curing in usually between 3 and 15 minutes, or alternatively if only partly cured it will continue to cure at room temperature by reacting with atmospheric moisture.

Sikabond 480 HC epoxy/polyurethane warm melt adhesive may also be used.

Sikapower 480 HC has an E-Modulus (DIN 53504) of 290 N/mm² (elongation up to 4.5%) ANBD 35N/mm²

(elongation from 6.7% to break 77%. Its lap shear

2 strength is approximately UN/mm and does not change greatly with age or temperature. It has a high initial feel strength and can be applied at 80°C.

Less highly preferred is Sikaflex 252 which is a moisture curing adhesive.

Sikaflex and Sikabond adhesives are distributed in Australia by Sika (Aust.) PTY. Limited, a company incorporated in New South Wales and are manufactured by SIKA A.G. of TUFFENWEISS 16 - 22, Zurich, Switzerland. The adhesive is desirably applied in a thickness to result in a cured layer of from 0.5 mm to 5 mm, and preferably 0.6 to 2.0 mm in thickness.

EXAMPLE I

A pallet having bearers as described herein after with reference to Figure 8 and having an upper and lower deck of members as described with reference to Figure 4 herein was constructed as follows: The pallet parts were cleaned and pretreated in accordance with SIKA's recommendations for use of SIKAFLEX 355 HC or 252 adhesives. When Sikabond 480 is used no surface preparation is necessary.

The lower deck-forming members 4 were loaded into the magazine of a machine which fed them onto a conveyor with flanges 9 uppermost, members 4 extending laterally with respect to the conveyor direction. Three nozzles fed from a drum of Sikaflex 355 adhesive by compressed air then placed a stripe of Sikaflex adhesive 14 respectively adjacent each end of deck members 4 and at the centre of deck members 4. The adhesive was applied in a line about 50 mm to 70 mm long (depending on the width of the bearer) and from 5 mm to 10 mm wide and from 0.5 mm to 5 mm deep, the stripe extending longitudinally of the deck forming member. An adhesive stripe was applied firstly to the upwardly facing surfaces of leading flange 9, then to base 8 and then along the trailing flange 9 (with respect to the conveyor direction) .

Lower deck forming members 4 bearing the adhesive composition stripes were then arranged in a jig which supported them in spaced-apart parallel array, with flanges 9 uppermost and adhesive exposed.

Three bearers 3, 70 mm wide were then placed on the deck-forming members 4, transverse the deck members, and overlying the wet adhesive 14 stripes with the width of the lower bearer surface bearing on the adhesive layer. The jig facilitated positioning of the bearers with respect to the deck-forming members and adhesive stripes. Identical deck-forming members 5 with adhesive applied on flanges 9, and foot 8, were then placed flange side down in parallel array on the 70 mm wide upper bearer surface, transverse the bearers, to form an upper pallet deck 6.

Next, electric heating elements were inserted endwise into the hollow bearers to cure the adhesive. After a few minutes the adhesive was sufficiently hard for the pallet to be removed from the jig. It was allowed to cure further in a stack.

A pallet manufactured as above from zinc aluminium coated G 550 steel having a thickness of 0.7 mm had an overall weight of less than 25 Kgs., approximately half the weight of a wooden pallet of comparable size, and was able to be carried by one person.

The dimensions of the test pallet are shown in Table II.

TABLE II DIMENSIONAL TEST

Width (mm) 1165

Depth (mm) 1165

Overall height (mm) 140

Difference in length of Diagonal (mm) 1

Entry Height (mm) 100

Deck Flatness Tolerance (mm) 0-1.5

Deck Parallelism Tolerance (mm) 0-0.5

Width of Gaps in Top Deck (mm) 50-57

Width of Gaps in Bottom Deck (mm) 243-260

Width of Top Deck Boards (mm) 100

Width of Bottom Deck Boards (mm) 100

Thickness of Deck Boards (mm) 20

Pallets made as described above were subjected to tests by the methods set out in Section 7.1.1 of Australian Standard AS2068-1977.

In the Stacking Test of AS 2068-1977 the pallet is supported on a level surface and a load of 120 KN (equivalent to a mass of 12 tonnes) is applied through a solid level surface over the whole area of the top deck.

The duration of the test is two hours and residual deformation one hour after application of the test load is recorded.

The pallet of the invention performed as shown in Table III. TABLE III STACKING TEST

Dimension at Position 1 2 3 4

Outside (mm) 100.5 100.3 100.5 100.35

Before Test Inside (mm) 99.9 100.0 100.0 99.5

After 10T Outside (mm) 100.3 100.3 100.3 100.3 applied for

5 mins. Inside (mm) 99.6 99.4 99.4 99.0

After 10T Outside (mm) 100.3 100.3 100.25 100.3 applied for second period of 5 mins. Inside (mm) 99.6 99.4 99.5 99.0

In the Deflection Test of ASTM 2068-1977, the ability of the pallet to support a working load is determined by applying a load of 2500 Kgs. via load applicators at the weakest part of a pallet supported at its lower edges.

The results are shown in Table IV.

TABLE IV

DEFLECTION TEST

Loaded Deflection (mm) 15.6

Residual Deflection (mm) 0.4

Overall Result Complies

In the Bearing test of ASTM 2068-1977 the ability of the pallet to resist bending is tested. A test load of 1 KN. (equivalent to a mass of 100 Kgs.) is applied at the centre of the weakest section over an area 75 mm in diameter and the maximum deflection recorded. The results are shown in Table V.

TABLE V BEARING TEST

Maximum Deflection (mm) 1.5 Residual Deflection (mm) 0 Result Complies

In the Shear Test of ASTM 2068-1977 the ability of the pallet assembly to retain a strapped down load and particularly of fasteners to resist horizontal shear and impact is measured.

A shear force of 15 KN is applied between an upper edge and a diagonally opposite lower edge of the pallet. The result is shown in Table VI.

TABLE VI SHEAR TEST

Maximum Deflection (mm) 2

Residual Deflection (mm) 0

Result Complies

The pallet was able to withstand a shear of 26 KN and equivalent to a mass of 26 tonnes.

In the impact load test a pallet is placed on the test machine specified in ISO 2244 with a 10° inclined plane, loaded with a 200 Kg. gross load and allowed to slide against two impact stops to simulate the prising of the top decking edges of the deck from the bearers by incorrectly lined-up fork tines.

In the diagonal rigidity test the pallet is dropped corner first from a height of 1 meter.

The tested pallet passed both .tests.

It is surprising that metal deck members can be adhesively bonded to metal support members by means of an adhesive to provide a pallet capable of withstanding the rough normal handling for a pallet. Pallets are subjected to much rough handling resulting in repeated impact loads, twisting and flexing. With welded metal pallets, this application of repetitive stresses and strains can fracture the welds, or if fasteners are used, shear the fasteners. Repair of pallets is a major expense for pallet owners.

In a test comparing polyurethane adhesively bonded metal pallet parts according to the invention with spot welded metal pallet parts, the spotwelds failed at 480,000 flexions whereas surprisingly the adhesive join of the invention withstood the twisting and lasted 3 million cycles.

The adhesive most importantly also allows bonding of different substrates, thereby providing a simple and effective method of bonding aluminium decking members to steel bearers and so on. Pallets constructed from combinations of different metals, eg. steel and aluminium, which are rivetted or fastened by other mechanical means are prone to electrolytic corrosion if exposed to damp atmospheres, sea water or other electrolytes. The use of the described adhesive which is impervious to water substantially avoids those problems.

Surprisingly, pallets according to the invention may be easily repaired for example by cutting a damaged deck member free from the bearers by means of a hot wire, or by driving a spatula or by a cold wire driven laterally through the adhesive layer between the bearer and deck member to slice the adhesive. New or repaired deck members may be readily bonded to bearers if necessary by fresh application of adhesive.

When severed, a thin coating of the adhesive remains on the face of the bearer and the deck member after severance. Fresh adhesive can then be applied to the remaining coating without special surface preparation and without loss of strength to effect repairs.

A preferred form of bearer is shown in figures 8, 9, 10 and is manufactured by roll-forming or press-forming a top plate 20 and bottom plate 21 including longitudinally extending "V" shaped formations 22, one adjacent each edge and optionally one or more additional "V" shaped formations, 24. As shown in Figure 9 each side edge margin of the top plates 20 (and identical bottom plate 21) is folded back at 25 to define a channel 26.

Side plates 27, 28 are identical one to the other and are roll-formed or press-formed with indented ribs 29 extending from adjacent an upper margin to adjacent the lower margin and at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The top and bottom margins are folded laterally during rolling to provide a laterally extending flange 30 which extends tangentially to the run out of ribs 29.

Flange 30 of side walls 27, 28 are then slid into captured engagement with respective channels 26 on opposite side of base 21, each side wall 27, 28 being retained by a turned-back flange 25 and by abutment of the run-out portion 31 of indentations 29 against "V" shaped formations 22.

In this intermediate stage of manufacture, the side walls require no additional support and are spring biased slightly outwardly.

The upper plate 20 is then slid into position to capture upper lateral flanges 30 of the side walls in channels 26 of the upper plate and held in place by formations 22 and by the outward resilient bias of the sidewalls. At this stage the bearer can be handled and is self-supporting. The edges including folded back margin 25 of the top and bottom plates together with captured lateral flange 30 of the side wall are then folded to form stiff flanges 32 at the same time drawing the side wall indentations into tight abutment against the "V" shape formations 22.

Desirably, flanges 30 and channels 26 are double the width of flanges 32 of the finished beam to facilitate folding and to provide multiple thicknesses of material in flanges 32.

Although for simplicity a manual assembly of the bearer parts has been described, the bearer is in practice assembled automatically. The bearer is of high strength to weight ration and of suitable tortional rigidity. The parts are prevented from relative movement by punching indentations, or by clenching, or by welding at intervals along the folded lateral flanges 32.

The bearers of Figure 8 may also be made from coated steel strip. The top and bottom plates are typically 0.6 mm or 0.7 mm in thickness and the sides may vary from 0.4 mm up to about 0.7 mm in thickness. When the bearer of Figure 8 is used the adhesive flows into the "V" shaped formations providing a mechanical interlock.

If desired, the same or a different adhesive composition or other high friction composition may be applied to the deck surface or portions thereof to increase friction.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a two-deck pallet, the invention is applicable to light-weight pallets consisting of two bearers and a single deck or pallets of other design.

The pallet may thus be repaired in situ by unskilled labour. It is believed that the thickness of the adhesive layer provides a degree of resilient shock absorbing capacity which gives the pallet considerable impact resistance. The pallet has a residual scrap value and is highly competitive on a cost/performance basis with wooden pallets. In addition, it can be steam cleaned or if necessary, sterilized.

The present inventor has tested a substantial number of adhesive without finding any other which has as satisfactory a performance as the SIKAFLEX adhesive described but other compositions having similar mechanical properties when cured could be employed.

Induction, R.F. heating, hot air, infra red or other heating techniques to accelerate curing of the adhesive may be employed. The use of two-pot adhesives and chemical catalysts to accelerate cure may also be considered.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description the construction of the pallets described is achieved by unexpectedly simple and economical steps in comparison with prior art methods and results in manufactured pallets of surprising strength, durability and ease of repair. The features of one embodiment described may be combined with those of another and the form of the pallets can be altered to an extent which will be apparent from the teaching hereof without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS : -

1. A flat reusable pallet for materials handling and able in use to support a mass in excess of 2000 Kgs., said pallet comprising at least two bearer members, at least one deck-forming member extending from one bearer member to the other; and having a layer of high strength resiliently deformable composition intermediate the deck-forming member and a bearer, whereby the deck member is connected to that bearer.

2. A pallet according to Claim 1 wherein the high strength resiliently deformable composition is capable of severance.

3. A pallet according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the resiliently deformable composition is a layer having a thickness in excess of 0.5 mm.

4. A pallet according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the resiliently deformable composition is a layer having a thickness of less than 5.0 mm.

5. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the at least one deck-forming member is adhesively bonded to the bearer member by means of a high-strength flexible polyurethane based adhesive.

6. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the resiliently deformable layer is selected from SIKAFLEX 355, SIKABOND 460, SIKAFLEX 252 or an adhesive having substantially similar mechanical properties when cured.

7. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the at least one deck-forming member is of one material and the bearer members are of another material.

8. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the deck-forming members are of zinc aluminium coated steel.

9. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bearer members are of steel.

10. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the deck members are of generally "M" shaped cross-section having flanged feet and the flanged feet are adhesively bonded to bearers.

11. A pallet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the deck members are roll-formed or press-formed.

12. A pallet substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A flat reusable pallet for materials handling of the kind able in use to support a mass in excess of 2000 Kgs., said pallet comprising bearer members, at least one deck-forming member, and characterized in that the at least one deck-forming member is adhesively bonded to the bearer members by means of a high strength flexible composition.

14. A pallet according to Claim 13 wherein the composition is a cured polyurethane based adhesive.

15. A pallet according to Claim 14 wherein the composition is selected from Sikaflex 355, Sikaflex 252 or an adhesive having substantially similar mechanical properties when cured.

16. A method for manufacture of a pallet for materials handling, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) arranging a plurality of elongate pallet deck-forming members in spaced apart parallel array,

(b) arranging elongate pallet bearers transverse the deck-forming members of the array,

(c) applying a layer of an adhesive composition between selected portions of said deck-forming members and said bearers, and

(d) curing the adhesive composition or allowing it to cure so as to connect said deck forming members to said bearers.

17. A method according to Claim 16 wherein the adhesive composition is applied to the deck-forming members before step (b) .

18. A method according to claims 16 or 17 wherein the adhesive composition is applied to the bearers before step (b) .

19. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 18 wherein the adhesive composition is a high-strength flexible polyurethane based adhesive.

20. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 19 wherein the adhesive composition is applied in a thickness of greater than 0.5 mm.

21. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the deck members are arranged in a jig in step (a).

22. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 21 including the step of roll-forming or press-forming the deck members from metal.

23. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 22 including the step of forming a pallet bearer from roll-formed or pressed bearer parts.

24. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 23 further comprising the step of curing the adhesive composition at an elevated temperature.

25. A method of repair of a pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 15 comprising the step of severing one or more layers of the composition intermediate the pallet deck-forming member and bearer member, so as to disconnect the member from the bearer.

26. A method according to Claim 21 wherein the severing is conducted with a cold or hot wire.

27. A method according to Claim 21 or Claim 22, further comprising the step of adhesively bonding the same or a different deck-forming member in place of the disconnected member.