Physical properties and molecular mobility of the new wood composite plastic “thermobalite”

At the Altai State University a new method of synthesizing composite materials from wood without using traditional chemical components has been developed. The foundation of the method is the physical and chemical treatment of cheap wood waste by hot water steam under pressure. The paper presents comparative results of an investigation into the structure and properties of the composite material “thermobalite” synthesized on the basis of birch wood. The investigation has been carried out using dynamic mechanical analysis, linear dilatometry, wide-angle X-ray diffraction and other physical methods. It has been shown that “thermobalite” is a partially crystalline composite polymer, whose glass transition temperature is 80 °C lower compared to the initial wood. It has been established that preliminary moistening affects viscoelastic properties of “thermobalite”. Certain indicators of “thermobalite” as a structural material have been correlated with similar indicators of standard wood chip plates on the basis of phenolformaldehyde binders. Received 6 March 1997