Microstructure of viscoelastic thermal compressed (VTC) wood using computed microtomography

The paper describes for the first time the analysis of the structure of compressed wood using computed tomography. The anatomical structures of Douglas-fir and hybrid poplar before and after densification with the viscoelastic thermal compression (VTC) process were described by pore size distributions and mean pore sizes and compared. The compression of Douglas-fir mainly affected earlywood, while the compression of hybrid poplar mainly occurred in the vessels. In both wood species, the densification resulted in a significant decrease in the pore volumes. The porosity decreased to less than half of the original value for Douglas-fir earlywood and to approximately one-quarter for the vessels in hybrid poplar. The relevant mean pore sizes also decreased dramatically to about one-quarter compared to the original values. In contrast, latewood in Douglas-fir and libriform fibers in hybrid poplar are quite stable under compression. Douglas-fir latewood retained its original structure after compression and did not show any reduction in pore size. The results confirmed that the anatomical structure of VTC densified wood can be described by pore size distributions and mean pore sizes. However, in the case of broad or bimodal distributions, the mean pore sizes are of less significance.     

Density profile and morphology of viscoelastic thermal compressed wood

The viscoelastic thermal compression (VTC) of low-density hybrid poplar (Populus deltoides × Populus trichocarpa) from fast growing trees was performed in order to produce specimens with three different degrees of densification (63, 98, and 132%). The morphology and density profile of the VTC specimens were studied. Three different methods for the preparation of specimens for microscopy were used in order to find a technique that makes it possible to examine the VTC wood microscopically in the completely deformed state. It was found that the abrasive surface preparation of oil-embedded blocks was the most promising technique. Microscopic observation revealed that the deformations in the VTC wood were mostly the result of the viscous buckling of cell walls without fracture. The volume of the void areas in the specimens decreased with the degree of densification. The results showed that the density profile of the VTC wood varied with the degree of densification as a consequence of different temperature and moisture gradients formed before and during wood compression. The density profile is also visible on the cross-section of the VTC specimens.     

A review of wood thermal pretreatments to improve wood composite properties

The objective of this paper is to review the published literature on improving properties of wood composites through thermal pretreatment of wood. Thermal pretreatment has been conducted in moist environments using hot water or steam at temperatures up to 180 and 230 °C, respectively, or in dry environments using inert gases at temperatures up to 240 °C. In these conditions, hemicelluloses are removed, crystallinity index of cellulose is increased, and cellulose degree of polymerization is reduced, while lignin is not considerably affected. Thermally modified wood has been used to manufacture wood–plastic composites, particleboard, oriented strand board, binderless panels, fiberboard, waferboard, and flakeboard. Thermal pretreatment considerably reduced water absorption and thickness swelling of wood composites, which has been attributed mainly to the removal of hemicelluloses. Mechanical properties have been increased or sometimes reduced, depending on the product and the conditions of the pretreatment. Thermal pretreatment has also shown to improve the resistance of composites to decay.     

Effect of adding steam-exploded wood flour to thermoplastic polymer/wood composite

The effect of steam-exploded wood flour (SE) added to wood flour/plastic composite was examined using SE from beech, Japanese cedar, and red meranti and three kinds of thermoplastic polymer: polymethylmethacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyrene. Addition of SE increased the fracture strength and water resistance of the composite board to an extent dependent on the polymer species and the composition of wood/SE/polymer. However, water resistance decreased with the increasing proportion of SE when SE meranti was added. Effects of the wood species of SE on the properties of resulting board were small. An increased moisture content of wood flour or SE (or both) increased the variation of board performance.     

A comparison of nanoindentation cell wall hardness and Brinell wood hardness in jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.)

Nanoindentation is a powerful tool for hardness testing on a very small scale. Since the technique was first introduced for studying wood cell wall mechanics, it has been integrated as an important tool for measuring the modulus of elasticity and hardness of wood cell walls. In this study, hardness measured with nanoindentation (nanohardness) was compared with hardness measured by the standard Brinell test method (Brinell hardness) on jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) wood. Nanoindentation was performed on both the S2 layer of the secondary cell wall and the middle lamella (ML) of early- and latewood fibers. Four annual growth rings were studied. The influence of growth ring and initial spacing on both measurements was analyzed. The relationship between Brinell hardness, nanoindentation measurements, and average ring density was also studied. Results suggest that Brinell- and nanohardness are controlled by different mechanisms and factors. The location of nanohardness measurements (i.e., S2 layer or ML) also influenced hardness differently. It was concluded that nanomeasurements are not an exact representation of wood mechanical properties conducted at the macro level because of the hierarchical structure of wood. The effect of other factors such as moisture or wood extractive content may also need consideration.     

Determination of formic-acid and acetic acid concentrations formed during hydrothermal treatment of birch wood and its relation to colour, strength and hardness

Formation of benzyl esters from acetic and formic acids during heat treatment of birch at 160–200°C has been studied by gas chromatography. High concentrations of formic and acetic acids formed by the wood itself during hydrothermal treatment were found. The concentrations of acids increased with both treatment time and temperature. The maximum formic- and acetic acid concentrations found at 180°C and after 4 h of treatment performed in this work were 1.1 and 7.2%, based on dry-weight wood, respectively. The treated wood material was characterised by mechanical testing [bending tests perpendicular to the grain, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, Brinell hardness, impact bending and colour measurements (CIE colour space)]. The experiments, where high concentration of acids was formed, showed severe losses in mass and mechanical strength. Indications of possible enhanced mechanical properties for the treated, compared with untreated birch wood were found around 180–200°C at short treatment times. This paper discusses possible degradation reactions coupled with the colour and mechanical properties in relation to acid formation, and suggestions for process optimisations.     

Cellulose esters as compatibilizers in wood/poly(lactic acid) composite

One of the important issues relevant to wood/plastic composite molding is the compatibility between hydrophilic wood and hydrophobic plastic. Polyolefins modified with maleic anhydride, which have been frequently used for wood and polyolefin composites, are not effective for poly(lactic acid) composites. Because compounds with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups are potential compatibilizers, cellulose esters of several carboxylic acids, RCOO-cellulose (R = CH₃, C₂H₅, C₃H₇, C₄H₉, C₅H₁₁, C₁₁H₂₃), were synthesized and their effects as compatibilizers of wood/poly(lactic acid) composites (WPLC) were examined in this study. The mechanical properties of WPLC were improved with a small amount of added cellulose esters, especially cellulose butyrate or cellulose valerate. The relevant effect of added cellulose esters on the thermal properties of wood/PLA composite was analyzed by measuring dynamic viscoelasticity. Part of this report was presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of Japan Wood Research Society, Akita, August 2006 and the 9th International Conference on Frontiers of Polymers and Advanced Materials, Cracow, Poland, July, 2007     

The stress-displacement relation of wood perpendicular to the grain

Summary A non-linear fracture mechanics model, the Fictitious Crack Model (FCM), is utilised for a theoretical study of the Compact Tension (CT) specimen. The complete stress-displacement curve for the material is used in the FCM, even the descending branch after maximum stress. The analysis shows that the computed load-displacement curve is sensitive to modulus of elasticity perpendicular to the grain, tensile strength and fracture energy. The theoretically obtained results agree well with experimentally determined curves.     

The stress-displacement relation of wood perpendicular to the grain

Summary A method for measuring the complete stress-displacement relation in both tension and shear and some experimental results on Nordic redwood (Pinus sylvestris) are presented. The complete stress-displacement relation also includes the post-peak behaviour, i.e. the descending branch of the curve. The influence of annual ring orientation and moisture content on the form of the stress-displacement curve for the fracture process zone has been examined, and the results show that the normalised curve in tension is independent of annual ring orientation and moisture content.     

Impacts of freezing and thermal treatments on dimensional and mechanical properties of wood flour-HDPE composite

Wood plastic composite (WPC) of wood flour (WF), high density polyethylene (HDPE), maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (MAPE) and lubricant was prepared by extrusion, and then exposed to different temperatures to evaluate the effects of freezing and thermal treatment on its dimensional and mechanical properties. At elevated temperatures, WPC expanded rapidly initially, and then contracted slowly until reaching an equilibrium state. Treatment at 52°C and relative humidity of 50% for 16 days improved the mechanical properties of WPC: flexure, tensile strength, and izod unnotched impact strength increased by 8%, 10% and 15%, respectively. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests showed that the degree of crystalization of HDPE in WPC declined with increasing treatment temperature.     

Optimum preparation technology for Chinese fir wood/Ca-montmorillonite （Ca-MMT） composite board

For this study, an intercalation compounding method was used to prepare Chinese fir wood/Ca-montmorillonite （Ca-MMT） composite board to improve its properties such as surface mechanical properties, flame retardance and dimensional stability. By virtue of water-soluble phenolic resin （PF）, Chinese fir wood and Ca-MMT were mixed by pressure and vacuum impregnation. The optimum impregnation technology of Chinese fir wood/Ca-MMT composite board was obtained by using an orthogonal design and a single factor design of pressure and vacuum impregnation, using weight percent gain （WPG） as the basic index. The results are as follows： 1） On the basis of the orthogonal design and an actual experiment, the optimum preparation technology of Chinese fir wood/Ca-MMT composite board is 20% PF resin dispersion concentration （wt%）, 1.0 CEC amount of organic intercalation agent, 0.098 MPa vacuum degree, 5% concentration of Ca-MMT and 1.0 MPa pressure. 2） The WPG of the composite board samples of 450 mm length was much larger than that of the samples of 600, 750 and 900 mm length. Warm water extraction contributed little to WPG     

Stress model of a wood fibre in relation to collapse

A wood fibre cell from a Tasmanian Eucalypt is typically cylindrical in shape with a length to diameter ratio of approximately 501. Early in the process of seasoning for solid timber, when the fibre lumens are still saturated, internal tension within a fibre can rise to a value high enough to cause it to physically flatten, or collapse. A stress model of a fibre cell has been developed which predicts the stress and strain distributions within the fibre wall as a function of temperature, moisture content, and fibre wall strength properties and size in the early stages of drying. This model will be used together with measurement of the behaviour of collapse prone timbers to determine conditions which will avoid collapse during seasoning.The author is pleased to acknowledge the assistance of Emeritus Professor A. R. Oliver, Associate Professor P. E. Doe, University of Tasmania, and the Australian Furniture Research and Development Institute     

Properties of cell wall constituents in relation to longitudinal elasticity of wood

 To predict the origin of longitudinal elasticity of the solid wood in relation to the composite structure of the wood cell wall, an analytical procedure was developed on the basis of the idea of “the reinforced-matrix hypothesis” originally introduced by Barber and Meylan (1964). A multi-layered circular cylinder, having the CML, the S1, and the S2 layers, was used as a model of the ligno-cellulosic (wood) fiber, and the elastic properties of an isolated wood fiber were formulated mathematically. In the formulation, not only the structural factors, such as the microfibril angle and the thickness of each layer, but also the environmental condition, e.g. the moisture content, were taken into consideration. The effects of the moisture content and the microfibril angle upon the longitudinal Young's modulus and the Poisson's ratio of the wood fiber were simulated by using the newly derived formulae. It is anticipated to give a start to estimate the fine structure and the internal properties of the cell wall constituents in relation to the macroscopic behaviors of the wood through simulating the mechanical behaviors of the wood fiber. Received 17 August 1999     

Spatial structure of wood composites in relation to processing and performance characteristics

Summary A rationale is presented for developing a mathematical model which describes a randomly packed, short-fibre-type wood composite. The model will utilize probability theory to insure random packing both in terms of flake position and orientation. Knowledge about the spatial relationship between wood elements will be used, in future, to predict a number of physical parameters associated with the composite structure. This will be accomplished by first developing a single-layer-flake model and subsequently proceeding to a multi-layer mat structure.Financial support for this work from NSERC/Canada through a strategic research grant is gratefully acknowledged