Heat treatment of poplar plywood: modifications in physical, mechanical and durability properties

Plywood made of poplar are limited to indoor usages since poplar exhibits a rather low natural durability. Recently, wood heat treatments have been applied to improve properties such as decay susceptibility and dimensional stability. This study examines the potential of exposing poplar plywood to heat treatment to extend the potential of applications of this engineered wood product to outdoor end uses, and new markets accordingly. Plywood panels were glued with two different adhesive formulations based on the same melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) resin to compare their respective ability to resist to the heat treatment. These different plywoods were thermally modified in saturated steam conditions at 215 °C for 2 hours following the ThermoWood® process, up to reach 14% in mass loss. The durability improvement brought by the heat treatment was assessed in order to evaluate any possible outdoor uses for such plywood. After all the conducted analyses, the potential to use heat treated poplar plywoods in humid interior and protected exterior service conditions was confirmed.ANR-10-EQPX-16 XYLOFOREST laboratoire Mixte Public/privé qui associe les Arts et Métiers (campus de Cluny) et l’entreprise Brugèr

Experimental Investigation on Rotary Peeling Parameters of High Density Coconut Wood

Substantial quantities of senile coconut palms are present in plantations within the Asia-Pacific region. Once coconut palms become over-mature, their production of traditional products, such as coconuts, significantly decreases, resulting in profitability challenges for farmers. Presently, few profitable markets exist for over-mature, senile coconut palms. Using the coconut palm stem in composite or engineered wood products could, however, provide an attractive alternative. Due to some of its unique characteristics, a processing system able to recover wood from the high-density zone near the stem periphery is desirable. A series of rotary veneer laboratory trials were undertaken to establish fundamental benchmark lathe settings and veneering characteristics for coconut palm stems. Different pressure bar configurations, billet pre-treatment temperatures, and veneer thicknesses were tested, and the resulting cutting forces and veneer quality were assessed. Optimal setting recommendations for peeling coconut wood are provided

An insight into mechanical properties of heartwood and sapwood of large French Douglas-fir LVL

The French resource of large diameter Douglas fir is currently still growing, while these large diameter trees are complicated to process efficiently by the sawmilling industry. The rotary peeling process appeared to be particularly adapted as an alternative to the usual sawing. This primary processing method produces veneers used to make a wood engineered product material called Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). The manufacturing process of LVL enables the distribution of the resource defects, allowing for increased mechanical behaviour compared to the solid wood from which it comes from. The main objective of this study is to provide an insight into the principal Douglas-fir heartwood LVL mechanical properties such as longitudinal and shear moduli of elasticity, bending, shear and compressive strengths. Up to now, there was no study on LVL derived from this resource. This study focuses on heartwood because of its very interesting natural durability properties for constructive outdoor applications. Moreover, a comparison with structural timber properties and a comparable industrial engineering product, made of Norway spruce and called Kerto© S was also achieved to place the material in terms of mechanical performance among the market. Globally, this Douglas-fir heartwood LVL showed high compressive and shear properties. Even though the bending properties were significantly lower than data from Douglas-fir LVL of the literature, they seemed appropriate for structural applications. A larger experimental campaign fully representative of the industrial process and dealing with larger samples will be needed to finally conclude on the characteristic values to be used in structural design. © 202

Bending, shearing, and compression properties of fast growing French Douglas fir LVL

The French resource of large diameter Douglas fir is currently keeping growing, while these large diameter trees are complicated to process efficiently by the sawmilling industry. The rotary peeling process appeared to be particularly adapted as an alternative to the usual sawing. This primary processing method produces veneers used to make a wood engineering product material called Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). The manufacturing process of LVL enables the distribution of the resource defects, allowing for increased mechanical behaviour compared to the solid wood from which it comes from. The main objective of this study is to present the principal Douglas-fir heartwood LVL mechanical properties such as longitudinal and shear moduli of elasticity, bending, shear and compressive strengths. Up to now, there were no study on LVL derived from this resource. This study focuses on heartwood because of its very interesting natural durability properties for constructive outdoor applications. Moreover, a comparison with structural timber properties was also achieved to place the material in terms of mechanical performance among the market. Globally, this LVL material showed high compressive and shear properties. Nevertheless, even though the bending properties were significantly lower than data from Douglas-fir LVL literature, they are still quite acceptable for structural applications. © WCTE 2021. All rights reserved

Kinetic analysis of poplar wood properties by thermal modification in conventional oven

The kinetics of several poplar (Populus alba L.) wood properties during thermal modification conducted in conventional oven with air recirculation were analysed and modelled in this paper. A wide range of properties was assessed, such as: equilibrium moisture content, sorption diagram, shrinkage coefficients, specific shrinkage coefficients, mass loss, modulus of elasticity, strength and colour. The tests were executed at different temperatures ranging from 90 °C to 180 °C and with different durations. The time-temperature equivalency was checked and property modifications over time analysed through master curves in order to obtain a general model connecting together properties, treatment temperature and duration. Different activation energies arising from each property evolution with treatment temperature and duration are provided showing that every modification could occur with different kinetics