HK1018431A - Lightweight plastic pallet - Google Patents

Description

Light plastic pallet

The present invention relates to a lightweight plastic pallet, and in particular to a pallet having an integrally formed pallet support or glide.

Pallets are often used as part of the goods to be transported and/or stored on which they are mounted, and therefore, it is an important problem that pallets are lightweight, while having strength and rigidity. Plastic pallets are advantageous over wood pallets in that they are lightweight, do not absorb moisture, and are easy to clean/sterilize, which is important for hygiene-critical applications such as the food industry.

European patent No. ep-0400640 discloses a plastic pallet consisting of a top and a bottom panel with runners, or a top panel with runners, which parts have legs that can be inserted into each other during assembly, and sheet metal mechanical connectors with stamped notches, claws or the like can be used to secure the parts together.

Swiss patent No. ch685549a5 discloses a plastic pallet, which is first made into two parts using an injection molding process. I.e. an upper panel and a lower panel with uprights and runners, and joining the upper and lower panels, respectively, with the reinforcing bars, by butt welding, i.e. welding their side edges and the reinforcing bars, respectively, to each other. Several semicircular holes are arranged along the longitudinal central line of the reinforcing ribs just inside all 4 side edges, and steel pipes or straight bars are inserted into the holes, so that the pallet is mechanically reinforced. The plastic pallet is preferably made of polyethylene.

Swedish patent SE501539 refers to an injection molded pallet runner preferably comprising two or three separate hollow enclosed slots along its entire length, which runner is lightweight and at the same time rigid. It may be connected by its top to a suitable strut, which in turn is connected to the bottom of the pallet deck.

International patent application WO93/18906 mentions a blow molding apparatus for manufacturing a one-piece, smooth-exterior, double-walled plastic pallet with a space formed therein during blow molding, the pallet being manufactured with a high bending strength, so that the apparatus is suitable for manufacturing plastic pallets.

The prior art plastic pallet is made by injection molding parts and then joining them together. The parts are typically provided with reinforcement at desired locations to achieve a lightweight rigid structure. Large and expensive injection molding tools are used in injection molding large parts, which requires large injection molding machines with large clamping forces. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a simpler and more economical method of manufacturing a plastic pallet. One way to achieve this is to produce pallets from an extruded plastic sheet or a blank by thermoforming, as in blow-molding large parts (e.g. drums, gas tanks, etc.). In order to obtain a lightweight yet rigid structure, it is often necessary to employ a coextruded multilayer structure in which one of the layers is at least partially foamed. For example, U.S. patent No.4,874,649 discloses a blow molding process for coextruding a parison having at least two layers, one (and perhaps more than one) of which is at least partially foamed.

The applicant's contemporary norwegian patent application NO-A-960128, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, refers to pallets formed by thermoforming A parison of the type described in us patent No.4,874,649 into pallet panels, spacers and runners, which are then assembled in A separate operating procedure to provide A lightweight but strong and rigid structure. The deck may be reinforced by placing a reinforcement member in the cavity formed between the pallet deck and the spacer.

For many purposes, particularly to make the pallet lightweight, it is often desirable that the size of the pallet be smaller than a standard size pallet. It has now been found that a lightweight pallet can be manufactured having pallet posts and runners of a more simplified construction than that disclosed in the applicant's above-identified patent application.

The smooth, planar surface of such a pallet makes it extremely easy to clean and disinfect, and it is therefore particularly suitable for use in the food industry and its related industries. Such pallets have a high strength to weight ratio due to their structural characteristics and are therefore well suited for use where light weight (e.g. air freight) is particularly desirable and where frequent manual handling of the pallet is required.

The invention provides a pallet made of thermoplastic material, comprising a deck and a plurality of pillars arranged below the deck. The pallet deck has an upper surface and a lower surface, a set of opposing longitudinal sides and a set of opposing lateral sides, and a support plate integral with the deck and disposed along at least one of the sets of sides of the pallet deck. The pallet is formed by thermoforming a thermoplastic extrusion parison having a single or multi-layer structure into a generally flat article having a set of opposing longitudinal sides and a set of opposing transverse sides, then bending at least one set of the sides of the article into a position perpendicular to the body portion of the article to form the strip and securing the strip in the position.

The invention also provides a pallet made of thermoplastic material, comprising a deck and at least two runners disposed below the deck. A pallet deck having an upper surface and a lower surface and a beam-like runner having runner posts facing upwardly at both ends is connected to the lower surface of the pallet deck through the upper surface of the runner posts. The pallet deck is made by thermoforming an extruded plastic parison having a single or multi-layer structure into a generally flat article. The glider is formed separately by thermoforming the same extruded parison from which the pallet deck is made into a generally flat piece, and then bending the piece at its ends perpendicular to its main body to provide a glider with the upwardly facing legs.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a finished pallet having a fulcrum and a support member formed by an integrally formed strut located at a longitudinal centerline;

FIG. 2 illustrates the principle of forming a plate;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views of alternative constructions of the plate;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal centerline of a pallet with supports comprised of deep drawn legs;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an integrally formed pallet post of another construction;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the deck panel and gliders prior to being connected together;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view in section through a portion of the pallet deck and the spacers and gliders secured to the lower surface of the deck along the longitudinal centerline of the deck;

FIG. 9 is a top view of a pallet with a raised portion of the pallet deck;

fig. 10 is a side view of the pallet shown in fig. 9.

The pallet of the present invention is made by a process comprising several process steps. The first step is to extrude a parison (preferably the parison described in the above-mentioned U.S. patent No.4,874,649). Extrusions having various wall thicknesses along their perimeter can be obtained using appropriately shaped extrusion dies. Thus, different portions of the pallet can be given different wall thicknesses. The extruded parison is collapsed in the mold under heat and formed into a generally flat article. The parts of the article are shaped into the desired shape by the combined application of compressed air and vacuum, for example: special-shaped structures, deep-drawn struts, and the like. When the parison is laid flat, the inner parts which are in forced contact with each other are welded together and form a double plate, the principle of extrusion and forming being well known to the person skilled in the art.

In its simplest embodiment, the parison consists of a homogeneous (solid) material. In order to make the extruded structure lighter, the parison may be coextruded from several layers, at least one of which is at least partially foamed. Today's coextrusion technology allows the production of parisons of various shapes and configurations. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the extruded structure is a foam layer having a solid skin on only one side thereof, preferably having a closed cell structure, but this is not a necessary feature. In practice, the density is about 100kg/m lower³The foam of (2) can be used. The skin forms the outer side of the pallet, so that the pallet has wear resistance and the surface is easy to clean.

In another embodiment of the invention, the extruded member comprises a layer of foamed plastic having a solid skin on both sides, or alternatively, a plurality of such multilayer structures. It is known that such sandwich structures have a high torsional rigidity and can be formed in a lightweight construction. The foam layer is typically about 70% of the thickness of the member, and each skin layer is about 15% thick, preferably about 80% and about 10% thick, respectively. When the foam layer has a closed cell structure, it may in some cases even constitute the entire wall thickness. The density of the foam can range from that of a solid material down to the extent practical to produce a stable polymeric foam. The foam material should have good adhesion to the skin layer in order to obtain an optimally rigid structure. Thus, the foam and skin layers must be coextruded in a manner that results in an integral multi-layer structure.

In general, suitable materials for making extruded parisons having a single or multi-layer construction include various extrudable thermoplastics having sufficient rigidity. Particularly suitable thermoplastics are polyolefins (e.g.polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (pp)), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), styrene plastics, Polyamides (PA) and Polycarbonates (PC). Of these, polyolefin materials are most preferred. However, it is not excluded to make the foam material and the skin layer from different materials. For example, an inner layer of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and an outer layer of ultra high molecular weight high density polyethylene (HMW-HDPE) and an intermediate layer of foamed polyethylene may constitute a suitable structure. Another structure has an inner layer of pp homopolymer, an outer layer of pp block copolymer, and a middle layer of pp foam. Other configurations are of course possible and within the scope of the invention.

If desired, the material constituting the solid portion in the extruded multilayer structure may be reinforced with chopped glass fibers and/or long glass fibers in the extrusion direction.

During the extrusion of the parison and the formation of the pallet elements, processing waste is generated which, from an economic point of view, should be returned to service. For this purpose, these scrap materials can be used to co-extrude one or more layers of a multilayer structure. Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, materials that can be mixed with each other are advantageously used. Polyolefin materials are well suited materials in this regard, especially certain types of polypropylene (pp) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). A smaller amount of glass fibers in the skin layer can be re-extruded after the material is sanded and used well in the skin layer and even in the foam layer.

Thermoplastic cross-linking agents may also be added to cross-link the material in the finished pallet. The disadvantage is that such waste materials in production cannot be recycled. Another disadvantage is that the platens are usually only mechanically assembled, although there do exist silane-based cross-linking agents that can form cross-links after the finished platens are made.

Because plastic articles, particularly polyolefin articles such as HDPE and pp, have smooth surfaces, it is often desirable to add friction-increasing materials to the pallet deck. To this end, the outer surface of the parison is provided by extrusion with an outer layer of friction material, which may range in width from a narrow strip around the entire circumference of the parison or along a portion of its circumference to a continuous surface layer. The friction material on the upper surface of the pallet deck prevents the goods from sliding out of the pallet deck, while the friction strips on the lower surface prevent the pallet deck from sliding out of the forks during transport. Alternatively, a coating of friction material may be applied to the face sheet of the finished pallet. This can be readily accomplished by extrusion coating, for example, by passing the pallet under a fixed extruder in the coating line.

The friction material is preferably present on the pallet in the form of longitudinally parallel protrusions. It has a height of about 1mm and a width ranging from a narrow strip to a continuous facing. When the pallet is made of a polyolefin material, suitable friction materials may be selected from polyolefin-containing materials such as EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer) and EBA (ethylene butyl acrylate copolymer).

Of course, it is also possible to add to the plastics additives and auxiliaries which are customarily added to thermoplastics, for example antistatics, heat and UV stabilizers, colorants, etc. The layers of the multilayer structure may be made in different colors, if desired. The pallet can also be given different colors for different purposes.

The pallet deck and the support plates along the sides of the pallet are formed into a generally flat piece in a single forming step. The edge portion of the manufactured article is then bent to a position perpendicular to the main plate and fixed in this position by, for example, welding. Thus, the secured side panels form a set of integral pallet support strips made of the same plate-like construction as the other pieces (i.e., pallet decks).

In one embodiment of the pallet, the braces are provided only along opposite sides thereof. In order to stabilize the support plate, two runners can be conveniently provided, which are connected to the bottom surfaces of two corresponding opposite support plates. This is particularly true where the strip has a cut through its edge (e.g., three separate strips are formed along each longitudinal side of the pallet) and the runners are secured to the bottom surface of each pair of opposing strips in the transverse direction of the pallet.

In the simplest embodiment of the invention, the pallet has struts in both the longitudinal and transverse directions, but centrally in the bottom surface, the struts being fixed together at an angle that forms a rigid structure. Such a pallet is typically used without requiring any additional pallet posts.

The present invention contemplates any combination of brackets disposed longitudinally and/or transversely of the pallet.

When the pallet is subjected to a large load, additional posts for bearing most of the load must be provided, which are usually fixed to the underside of the pallet deck equidistant from and parallel to the braces, and the structure of such posts can be varied.

Preferred embodiments of the pallet of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a particular embodiment of a finished pallet 1, the pallet 1 comprising a pallet deck 2, a strip 3 and a support with a plurality of integrally formed pallet posts 4 (only one of which is visible in the figure).

Fig. 2 illustrates the principle of forming a strip. During the formation of the parison, V-grooves 5 are pressed out along the entire length of the plate, in the extrusion direction and/or in the transverse direction thereof, at a distance from the sides of the plate. These grooves 5 have a base angle of about 90 ° and a suitable depth, but the wall thickness of the bottom of the grooves 5 must be sufficient to avoid material breakage during subsequent manufacturing operations. After removal of the formed plate from the mould, the sides 3 of the plate are bent along the V-grooves to a position perpendicular to the main plate and then fixed in that position. The dashed line of fig. 2 illustrates this operation. The main plate 2 then constitutes the deck of the pallet, while the side portions 3 constitute the braces. The thickness of the main plate 2 is preferably greater than the thickness of the side portions 3. The thickness difference described above can be maintained by adjusting the thickness of the parison periphery as described above, and final sizing can be performed on the forming device. Due to the above thickness difference, a smooth transition portion between the pallet deck and the leg plate can be obtained.

Pallets typically require several openings in the pallet to allow easy insertion of the forks for easy lifting and transport of the pallet. FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the strip 3 having a generally rectangular opening with rounded corners. Obviously, the opening may be of any suitable shape. Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the plate in which the openings extend to the bottom edge of the side plate to form 3 individual plates 3, or two spaced plates. The desired opening in the side panel is formed by first pressing out the outline of the opening during the forming process in the mold and then forcibly pressing the indicated portion away after the pallet has been formed.

In the embodiment of the pallet shown in fig. 1, the legs forming a set of pallet supports are deep drawn from the bottom surface of the pallet deck along its longitudinal centerline and parallel to the brace. Only one such post at one end of the pallet is visible in fig. 1. Typically, there are 3 deep-drawing studs evenly distributed along the centre line of the pallet, i.e. one stud at each end and in the middle of the pallet. This is illustrated in fig. 5, which is a cross-sectional view of the pallet taken along line a-a of fig. 1. The posts 4 may be deep drawn to their final dimensions in a single operation to form a set of final integrally formed pallet posts. A disadvantage of deep drawing the pallet strut to full depth is that the thickness at the bottom corners of the strut becomes smaller. The allowable deep draw ratio, inclination of the wall, corner shape, etc. are determined according to the properties of the material from which the pallet is made. The problems associated with deep-drawn thermoplastics are well known to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 6 illustrates yet another embodiment of an integrally formed pallet post. Each leg 4 is deep drawn to a depth less than the final depth, for example to half the height of the final pallet leg. A separately made block 6 is then fixed to the half-size support 4 in a special operation. In general, the above-mentioned blocks 6 can be of any shape and can be made of any material, as long as they can be permanently fixed to the bottom of the half-size pillar. The height of the above-mentioned block 6 must be such that the exact pallet-post height is obtained when it is connected to the deep-drawing post 4. The advantage of this embodiment is that the required deep drawing ratio of the support is small and the strength of the pallet support is high.

Instead of the above-described blocks 6, all the blocks can be replaced by a runner 9 as shown in fig. 7, which runner 9 is a cross-member 10 with two or more upwardly facing legs 11, which legs 11 are connected with their top faces to the bottom faces of the deep-drawn legs 4 of the panel 2.

In another embodiment, similar skids are secured to the bottom surface of the foot along opposite sides of the pallet, and the height of the deep-drawn stud structure in the center of the pallet must be adapted to the particular configuration of the skids. The structure of such a runner may be similar to the runner 9 shown in figure 7. In a preferred embodiment, half-size posts 4, as shown in fig. 6, are deep-drawn into the bottom surface of the panel, and the runners are formed with a central post that matches the pallet post 4, and the height of the posts at the ends of the runners must be compatible with the brackets 3. Thus, the bottom of the cross-beam 10 of the runner will face the floor.

Figure 7 shows an embodiment of the pallet in which the centre of the underside of the panel is thermoformed into a continuous U-shaped configuration 7 along its entire longitudinal length and parallel to the strip 3. The upper spacer 8 is connected to the bottom of the U-shaped structure 7 by its cross-piece 10 and the lower runners 9 are connected from the top of their legs 11 to the bottom of the matching legs 11 of the upper spacer 8, each spacer row and runner being made by a specific operation by shaping a parison into a cross-piece 10 with legs 11.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the finishing board table 1 taken along line B-B of fig. 7. The section is through the pallet deck 2, the U-shaped structure 7 and the uprights 11 of the upper and lower runners 8, 9. The U-shaped structure 7 is formed with a groove 12 and two closed hollow sections 14, and the upper spacer 8 is shaped to form a longitudinal groove in the upper part of its beam, the width of which groove is the same as the width of the groove 12 in the bottom of the U-shaped structure 7. Thus, when the pallet deck 2 and the upper partition 8 are joined together, a closed channel 12 is formed extending longitudinally along the pallet. The length, width and depth of the groove may be as desired. The U-shaped structure 7 and the upper spacer 8 are made so that the ends of each channel 12 are sealed, thereby forming a closed hollow area. Alternatively, both ends of the groove 12 may be opened. The lower runners 9 are in principle identical to the upper spacers 8, but their cross beams 10 constitute the floor-facing surface. Each of the pillars of the upper and lower spacers 8, 9 is made symmetrical so as to form two hollow areas 15 and a slot 13 of identical shape and also to form a closed hollow area. The shape of the pallet post can be made different from that shown in figure 8 by varying the dimensions of the slot 12 and the hollow sections 13 and 15. However, the load-bearing walls of the struts must be constructed to be sufficiently rigid.

Suitable stiffeners may be inserted into the channels 12 in fig. 8 to ensure that the pallet does not bend in its center when subjected to large stresses. The reinforcing members are preferably made of light metal, laminated wood, reinforced thermoset plastic (e.g., fiberglass reinforced plastic) or other suitable plastic or composite material to maintain the pallet light weight empty.

As described above, a pallet having support plates along opposite sides may include runners secured to the bottom surfaces of respective pairs of opposing support plates, the runners being formed by laying flat an extruded parison and then forming it into a double flat plate. During the forming process, V-shaped grooves are pressed out at a distance from both ends as described above. Finally, the two ends are bent along the aforementioned V-shaped grooves to a desired angle (e.g., 90 °) to the main beam and fixed in this position. The upper surfaces of the two end portions of each slide are then attached to the bottom surfaces of the respective brackets of the pallet. However, this embodiment has a plurality of welding operations for each pallet, namely: fixing the integrally formed pallet plate in its correct position by welding (as described above); welding the two ends of each runner to their correct position (normally perpendicular to the cross-beam); finally, the upper surface of the end of the runner is welded to the lower surface of the plate. To simplify the assembly of such a pallet, the foot plate of the pallet may be eliminated and the upper surface of each runner end attached directly to the bottom surface of the pallet deck.

The components of the pallet are conveniently joined together by welding, preferably butt welding, but other joining methods such as extrusion welding, bonding with adhesives or bonding agents, and mechanical joining may be used.

The pallet deck may have a flat surface or a profiled surface. Fig. 9 and 5 show a preferred embodiment of the pallet with profiled panels.

Fig. 9 is a top view of a pallet 1, the pallet 1 having a recess 16 recessed into the deck panel, forming a protrusion 17 extending in the lateral direction of the pallet.

Fig. 10 is a side view of the longitudinal side of the pallet of fig. 9.

The dimensions of the above-mentioned projections and recesses, i.e. their length, width and height, can be chosen freely within the physical limits imposed by the extrusion of the parison and the forming conditions. The bottom surface of the pallet deck may have the same structure as the top surface of the deck, or may remain flat. In general, the projections on the top and bottom surfaces of the pallet deck may extend in any direction, or may extend in different directions. In the embodiment of the pallet shown in fig. 9 and 10, the width of each protrusion is about 35 to 40mm, the distance between two adjacent protrusions, i.e., the width of the groove, is about the same, and the height of each protrusion is about 10 mm.

It should be understood that the upper surface of the pallet deck (and vice versa) may have any shape or design, the only limitation being the above mentioned technical conditions. All such structures are within the scope of the present invention.

The pallet deck having the convex portion makes it easier to unload the loaded goods. For example, for the pallet shown in figures 9 and 10, a fork could be specially designed to be inserted into a recess in the deck below the load and then the load could be lifted off the pallet as a whole using a suitable lifting device. This is particularly useful for unloading self-contained goods such as goods packed into plastic film, bottled crates, etc.

Several preferred embodiments of the pallet have been described above in terms of a rectangular pallet. Obviously, the shape of the pallet may be square or other suitable geometric shape. Moreover, the longitudinal sides and the transverse sides of the pallet as mentioned can be interchanged without departing from the scope of the invention.

The principles of the present invention will be understood more clearly from the foregoing description. Modifications of the structure and embodiments of the pallet according to the present invention according to the above-described technical concept should be considered to fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (19)

1. A pallet made of thermoplastic material, the pallet comprising a deck and legs disposed beneath the deck, characterized in that the pallet deck (2) has upper and lower surfaces, a set of opposing longitudinal sides and a set of opposing transverse sides, and braces (3) integrally formed with the deck and disposed along at least one of the set of sides of the deck, the pallet being made by thermoforming an extruded thermoplastic parison having a single or multi-layer construction into a generally flat article having a set of opposing longitudinal sides and a set of opposing transverse sides, then bending at least one of the set of sides of the article to a position perpendicular to a major portion of the article to form the braces, and securing the braces in that position.

2. A pallet according to claim 1, characterized by at least two pallet deck supports (4) provided on the lower surface of said pallet deck, said pallet deck supports being located at the longitudinal centre of said pallet deck and serving as pallet load supports.

3. A pallet according to claim 2, characterized in that the pallet panel supports (4) are integrally formed and have a height smaller than the final height of the plastic pallet, and that separately produced support members are then fastened to the lower surface of the integrally formed supports (4), said support members having a height such that the pallet supports of the desired height are obtained exactly after it has been connected to the pallet supports (4).

4. A pallet according to claim 3, characterized in that said separately produced support member is a block (6) fixed to said bottom surface of said integrally formed pillar (4).

5. A pallet according to claim 3, characterized in that said separately produced support structure is a separately thermoformed runner (9) formed as a cross-beam (10) with at least two runner legs (11) facing upwards, and that said runner is connected by the upper surface of its legs to said bottom surface of said pallet deck.

6. A pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a set of support plates (3) and a thermoformed U-shaped structure (7) located on the bottom surface of the pallet deck along its entire length along its longitudinal centre line and parallel to said support plates (3), a separately formed pallet support member being connected to the bottom surface of said U-shaped structure, the support member comprising an upper partition (8) and a lower runner (9), the upper partition (8) comprising a cross member (10) having downwardly facing legs (11); said lower runner (9) comprises a cross member (10) having an upwardly facing leg (11), said upper spacer (8) being connected by its cross member (10) to the lower surface of said U-shaped structure (7), said lower runner (9) being connected by the upper surface of its upwardly facing leg to the lower surface of a matching downwardly facing leg (11) on said upper spacer.

7. A pallet according to claim 6, characterized in that at least one of said upper spacers (8) and said U-shaped structure (7) facing said upper spacer have a longitudinal groove, whereby a straight open channel (12) is formed between said upper spacer (8) and said panel (2), and a reinforcement can be inserted into the channel (12).

8. A pallet according to any of claims 1-7, characterized in that the carrier (3) has openings for insertion of forks.

9. A pallet according to claim 8, characterized in that the openings extend to the bottom edge of the side plate to form at least two mutually spaced support plates (3).

10. A pallet according to claim 9, characterized in that a slide is fastened to the bottom surface of each pair of said pallets located along opposite sides of said pallet deck, each of said slides (9) being made separately and having a leg (11) adapted in height to the pallet (3).

11. A pallet made of thermoplastic material, the pallet comprising a deck and at least two runners disposed below said deck, wherein said deck has an upper surface and a lower surface, said runners are in the form of a beam with posts facing upwardly at each end; said glider being connected to a lower surface of said pallet deck by an upper surface of said glider post, said pallet deck being formed by thermoforming an extruded plastic parison having a single or multi-layer structure into a substantially flat piece; the glider is separately formed by thermoforming the same extruded parison from which the pallet deck is made into a generally flat piece and bending the ends of the piece to a position perpendicular to the main portion of the piece to provide the glider with the upwardly facing legs.

12. A pallet according to any of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the parison is extruded from a thermoplastic material selected from the group consisting of polyolefins, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, styrene plastics, polyamides and polycarbonates.

13. A pallet according to any of claims 1-12, characterized in that the extruded member is an integrally co-extruded multi-layer member comprising at least one foamed plastic layer having solid skin layers on both sides.

14. A pallet according to any of claims 1-13, characterized in that the extruded member comprises at least one layer of polyolefin material.

15. A pallet according to claim 12, 13 or 14, characterized in that the thermoplastic is reinforced with chopped or long glass fibres of a reinforcing material.

16. A pallet according to any of claims 1-15, characterized in that at least the upper surface of the deck is provided with a plurality of longitudinally parallel raised portions of friction material.

17. A pallet according to claim 16, wherein said longitudinal parallel projections have a height of about 1mm and a width from a narrow strip to a continuous facing.

18. A pallet according to any of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that it comprises a layer of friction material extruded on said upper surface of said plastic pallet deck.

19. A pallet according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper surface or the lower surface of the pallet panel can be made as a profiled surface with recesses (16) and protrusions (17) of desired dimensions.