Effect of Wood Variables on the Properties of Wood Fiber-Polypropylene Composites

The effect of wood species (Chinese fir and Poplar), wood fiber content (10%, 25%, 40%) and wood fiber sizes (16 to 32 mesh, 32-65 mesh, above 65 mesh) on the properties of the wood fiber-Polypropylene composites were studied in this paper. The results indicate that the effect of wood fiber content and size in composite were more important than that of chosen wood species. Compared with polypropylene without wood fiber, the flexural strength of the composites increased when adding wood fiber into polypropylene, but the tensile and unnotched charpy impact strength decreased. And the above strength decreased with the wood fiber content increasing. When the wood fiber size becoming smaller (in higher mesh), the strength increased. In the comparison of wood species, the properties of composite using Chinese fir wood were better than that of Poplar, but not significant. The dynamic mechanical properties of the composites and PP were also tested and analyzed in this paper.     

Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Wood Powder /Polypropylene Composites

The dynamic mechanical properties of wood powder/polypropylene composites with different wood content treated and untreated with the compatibilizer have been studied. It has been found that addition of wood powders and the compatibilizer can both improve the viscoelasticity of composites. Glass transition temperature (Tg) of appropriate wood powder-filled composites decreased. The value for the storage modulus (G') increased gradually with increasing wood powder content. The addition of the compatibilizer made glass transition temperature shift to a higher temperature. DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) results showed that, for pure PP, the addition of the compatibilizer decreased its melting point, and increased its Calorie of Melt at the same time. For the composite with 50 % wood powder treated with the compatibilizer, the melting point was almost unchanged, but its Calorie of Melt decreased.     

Properties of PEG/thermally modified wood flour/polypropylene (PP) composites

In order to improve the dimensional stability of wood-polymer composites, wood flour pre-treated by polyethylene glyco1 (PEG) at two different concentrations and then thermally treated at 140°C, was used as raw material to produce wood flour/polypropylene (PP) composites at a wood content of 40%. The structure of modified wood flour was analyzed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and its effect on the physical and mechanical properties of wood flour/PP composites was evaluated. The SEM results indicated the "bulking" effect of PEG on wood flour, which resulted in reduced water uptake. The combination of PEG and heat treatment further improved the moisture resistance of the composites. However, PEG modification had a negative effect on the flexural modulus of rupture (MOR) and the modulus of elasticity (MOE); whereas heat treatment partly compensated for this reduction. For dynamic mechanical properties, PEG treatment decreased the storage modulus (E′). However, the heat treatment resulted in an increase of E′ of the wood flour/PP composites, with the temperature of loss factor peaks shifting to a higher temperature.     

Research Advancement in Genetic Variation of Wood Properties

The genetic improvement of wood properties is one of the important measures of improving wood quality. To achieve that, forestry and wood scientists have done a great deal of research in expectation to produce more high-quality wood. The paper summarizes the researches on genetic variation and genetic correlation of wood properties and proposes the prospects to conduct the genetic improvement of wood properties.     

Application of Non-destructive Techniques in Evaluation of Wood Properties

1 INTRODUCTIONChinese forest volume ranks high in the world,following Russia, Brazil, Canada and America. Buton the average, there is a great shortage of woodresource in China. With the increase of demandsfor wood and wood products, wood resource isobviously deficient. Though plantations have beenplanted widely in order to reduce the pressure ofdemands for wood to some extent, some of themwere planted blindly and the value in use is still low.How to make full use of the limited forests …     

Effect of the amount of lignin on tensile properties of single wood fibers

Chemical components are the main factors affecting the mechanical properties of wood fibers. Lignin is one of the main components of wood cell walls and has a critical effect on the mechanical properties of paper pulp and wood fiber based composites. In this study, we carried out tensile tests on single mature latewood tracheids of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanciolata (Lamb.) Hook.), using three different delignified treatment methods to obtain different amounts of lignin. We applied single fiber tests to study the effect of the amount of lignin on mechanical tensile properties of single wood fibers at the cellular level. The results show that in their dry state, the modulus of elasticity of single fibers decreased with the reduction in the amount of lignin; even their absolute values were not high. The amount of lignin affects the tensile strength and elongation of single fibers considerably. Tensile strength and elongation of single fibers increase with a reduction in the amount of lignin.     

Development of Electroless Copper and Gold Plating on Wood

The use of more and more electron products requires interior wood products to have the performance of electromagnetic shielding. One of the ways to realize it is to introduce the chemical plating which has already been developed in electron industry into wood processing. The paper clarifies the mechanism of electroless copper and gold plating and its application to wood. It emphasizes the development and technology of electroless copper and gold plating on wood. Meanwhile, it points out that it is highly feasible to take this technology into effect.     

Current Research and Development on Deformation and Fixation of Bended Wood and Wood-based Composites

There are many advantages of bended wood,such as good-looking shape,simple process and low cost.The product,however,is easy to get recovery,which is urgent to be dealt with.This paper concludes the features of deformation and recovery of bended wood and wood-based composites and summarizes four treating methods to keep dimensional stability.Compared to bended solid wood,some elementary perspectives on the research of bended wood-based composites are presented.The purpose of this paper is to suggest:1)to investigate the optimum heating time and temperature that bended wood and wood-based composites need from the formation of deformation to the recovery and to the permanent fixation,according to its changes of dimensional stability such as curvature radius;2)to measure the composites comprised of wood and adhesives on the changes of stress relaxation,dynamic viscoelasticity and crystal1ization field;3)to quantitatively analyze changes of the major components in wood cell wall polymers as well as the composites under heat/steam treatment and untreated conditions.It will be helpful for subsequent research to clarify on the mechanisms of permanent fixation of bended wood and also contribute to that of wood-based composites.     

Review on Thermal Characteristics of Compound Outdoor Wall of Wood Framed Construction

INTRODUCTION China has a long history of wood framed construction. But, due to the increasing of population and lack of timber, wood framed construction is limited in the market, its research and development is relatively scarce. The modern wood framed construction has been developed and widely applied in the North American area and other countries for several decades. Recently, with the rapid development of economy and the requirement of society, especially energy saving, the wood frame…     

Preparation and Characterization of Phenolated Wood Using Sulfuric Acid as a Catalyst I: Liquefaction Behavior of Plantation Wood

Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) and poplar (Populus spp.) wood meal were phenolated in the presence of sulfuric acid used as a catalyst. The effects of reaction time and reaction temperature on the wood liquefaction were investigated. The results showed that the reaction temperature had the greater influence on the residue content than reaction time. Additionally, the liquefaction curve for the Chinese fir and Poplar were similar in general.     

Crystallity Change of Compressed Poplar Wood Treated by PF Resin

INTRODUCTIONWith the implementing of the Natural ForestryProtection policies in China, the plantation forestry willplay a much larger part in meeting the demand for wood.But the plantation wood, especially Poplar and Fir, havecommon properties of soft structure, low density andpoor processing. Generally speaking, these propertiescan be evidently improved by compressing. MasafumiInoue et al. (1991a, 1991b, 1990) had studied thesurface compression of coniferous wood. Their studiesshowed …     

Study on Surface Energy Characteristics of Poplar and Yellow Pine Strands

INTRODUCTION The surface free energy reflects the wettability of wood strand and has a big influence on the bonding strength of wood strand composites. In the past there have been many papers concerned with it. Wetting is a term to describe what happens when a liquid contact with a solid surface. And the wood grain direction also affects the adhesive wetting process significantly (Shi et al. 2001). It is important to emphasize that the contact angle on wood surface is a phenomenological …     

Comparison of Quality of Pulping and Paper-Making between Normal Wood and Tension Wood of Poplar Clone 107(Populus×euramericana‘Neva’) Tree

Both of straight and inclining poplar clone 107 tree were selected for studying materials in this paper.The optimal pulping conditions was established by orthogonal experimental design both for normal wood and tension wood,and the quality of pulping and paper-making between normal wood and tension wood was compared with each other. Finally,potential application for improving paper quality of tension wood through increasing beating revolutions was discussed.The result showed that the optimal cooking condition for normal wood was alkali concentration 15%,the highest temperature 164℃,time at highest temperature 75 min,and for tension wood it was alkali concentration 13%,the highest temperature 160℃,time at highest temperature 40 min.Path coefficient of effect of alkali concentration both on pulp yield and kappa value was significant at different levels.By comparison between average result of normal wood and tension wood in quality of pulping and paper-making,it was found that tension wood had higher pulping yield and lower kappa value than normal wood. Furthermore,for all mechanical properties of paper, normal wood hold higher value than tension wood, and even near two times than tension wood,such as burst index and tensile index.However,difference of tear index was quite narrow.Result of one way ANOVA showed that difference of burst index and tear index between normal wood and tension wood was significant at the 0.001 level,of tear index was significant at the 0.05 level.Based on observation of cross surface of paper,it was assumed that contribution of gelatinous layer to rigidity of single fiber had hampered collapse and compression of fiber during paper formation,which is essential for exerting combination between fibers in paper.So, mechanical properties of tension wood paper were decreased accordingly.However,owing to high cellulose content of gelatinous layer,tension wood was easier to pulping than normal wood.Mechanical properties of tension wood paper could be improved by increasing beating revolutions,     

Eucalypt Wood Anatomical and Physical Properties and Their Effects on Plywood Veneer Quality

In order to better understand the reasons why eucalypt veneer checks easily and severely, wood samples of three eucalypt species were selected, and their anatomical and physical properties were examined according to conventional methods and the national standards. The effects of variances in cell wall thickness of wood fibre and vessel, and diameter of the cell lumen as well as the tissue ratio on the quality of plywood veneer were analysed. The results show that： 1） There is a great difference in fibre cell wall thickness and diameter of the cell lumen between early wood and late wood of Eucalyptus delegatensis. 2） E. obliqua has a high wood fibre tissue ratio and the thickest fibre cell wall, but the difference inthe fibre cell wall thickness between early wood and late wood is the smallest. 3） The wood fibre tissue ratio of E. regnans is smaller than that of E. obliqua, and its wood fibre cell wall isthe thinnest and there is only a very small difference in fibre cell wall thickness between early wood and late wood. The difference inthe diameter of wood fibre cell lumen among early wood, transition area and late wood is also small： 4） E. delegatensis has the highest tangential shrinkage rate and radial-tangential shrinkage rate, andE. obliqua has the lowest. It is the variability of wood anatomical properties of these species that cause the difference in the veneer shrinkagei and then affects plywood veneer quality.     

Wood Properties of Poplar from Stand Affected by Acid Rain

Wood properties from 28 trees (Populus euramericana) selected from healthy and acid rain damaged forest were measured to evaluate the possible impacts on wood quality and utilization. On the heavily damaged location, the pH value of precipitation ranged from 3.7-5.0, and sulfate loading ranged from 20-40 kg·ha-2.y-1. Quantitative and qualitative studies on ring width, physical properties and mechanical properties indicated that changes of wood properties between diseased and healthy poplar occurred. Acid rain suppressed growth increment of trees in damaged forest. Comparing with healthy poplar, ring width of diseased poplar reduced significantly. The water content across the steni area differed enormously between diseased and healthy poplar. The deficiency in water of sapwood from diseased poplar was associated with a decrease of sapwood portion. Basic density of wood from diseased poplar reduced significantly. No significant difference in cellulose, pentosan and lignin were found between diseased and     

Nanoscale in Wood,Nanowood and Wood—Inorganic Nanocomposites

In order to introduce nano science and technology(NST) into the research field of wood science and technology,and promote the research of wood science and wood-inorganic composites to nanoscale ,some new concepts,such as the nano space in wood,nano structure units of wood and nanowood are put forward in this paper based on the layer structure of wood cell wall and the pile-up model of its main components.Furthermore,the process of preparing nanowood is discussed,and wood-inorganic nanocomposites may be operated in three ways with wood (matrix) and inorganic filler phase in 0-2,0-3 or 2-3 dimensions respectively.The following results are obtained:(1) The nanoscale voids in wood indicate that wood has inherent space to accommodate nanosized materials,such as nanoparticles,nanotubes and nanosticks;(2) According to the size from top down,the nano structure units in wood can be classified as :nanolayers,nano CMF (cellulose microfibril) and matrixd,nano crystallite units and cellulose chain clusters,and these can theroretically from nanowood;(3) The preparation of wood-inorganic nanocomposites can be operated on 0-2,0-3 or 2-3 dimensions.     

Properties of paper mill sludge-wood fiber-HDPE composites after exposure to xenon-arc weathering

We used paper mill sludge(PMS) to substitute for part of the wood fibers(WF) used to reinforce high density polyethylene(HDPE).The resulting composites were subjected to xenon-arc weathering.The composite filled with limited PMS(under 10 %) had mechanical properties and aging resistance similar to those without PMS.The composites containing more PMS faded and cracked more readily than those without PMS.Based on the carbonyl index,crystallinity,and wood index,PMS appeared to accelerate the degradation of composites during weathering.Adding PMS to WF–HDPE composites reduced the weathering resistance,and this reduction was not significant if the PMS content did not exceed 20 % of the wood fibers.Therefore,PMS could be used as a reinforcement in wood-plastic composites at levels less than20 % of the wood fiber content.     

Properties of Esterified Wood Prepared with Maleic Anhydride ／ Tetrabr Omophthalic Anhydride ／ Glycerol Mixture

For overcoming disadvantages of wood, an esterification process was employed and tetrabromophthalic anhydride (TBPA) was used as a reactive chemical agent to prepare an esterified wood with the high dimensional stability, flame resistance, and resistance to biodegradation from water-leaching. The experimental results indicated that esterification of wood plus maleic anhydride / tetrabromophthalic anhydride / glycerol could endow wood with dimensional stability, the antiswelling efficiency during water absorption (ASEw), reduction in water absorptivity (RWA), antiswelling efficiency during moisture absorption (ASEm),moisture excluding efficiency (MEE), and oxygen index (OI) of treated wood increased with an increase in the weight percent gain(WPG). And the treated wood showed great decay resistance and resistance to water leaching, too.     

Relations Between Permeability and Structure of Wood

The permeability and the structure of heartwood and sapwood of the solvent-exchange dried and the air-dried green-wood of Chinese-fir(Cunninghamia lanceolata(Lamb.)Hook.)and masson pine(Pinus massoniana Lamb.) were measured in order to study the relations between the permeability and the structure.The results showed that the permeability of sapwood of both the air-dried and the solvent-exchange dried wood was higher than that of heartwood,and the permeability of the solvent-exchanged a bigger number of flow path per unit area of the wood perpendicular to the flow direction resulted from a bigger number of unaspirated pits per unit area and a bigger number of effective pit openings per membrane,and on the other hand,a smaller number of tracheid in series connection per unit length parallel to flow direction resulted from a longer tracheid longth and an effective tracheid length for permeability.     

The Fractal Nature of Wood Revealed by Drying

An experiment on wood drying at different temperatures was conducted to show the fractal nature of the pore space within wood. Cubic blocks made from ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) and Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) wood were used. Samples were dried in oven at the temperature of 20, 40, 60 and 100 ℃, respectively. All the drying procedures lasted four hours. The mass was weighed and the dimensions were measured immediately for each sample when every procedure of drying ended. The fractal dimensions of the samples were obtained from the measurement. Results showed that the fractal dimensions increased with the drying temperature from 20℃ to 60℃ and the fractal dimensions keep a constant in the main. Results from different species and for different temperatures suggested thefractal dimension was a new parameter to characterize the porosity of wood.