ANATOMICAL INVESTIGATION OF FIVE GENERA THE LEAST-KNOWN TIMBER OF APOCYNACEAE AND THEIR POTENTIAL UTILIZATION

Doubtlessly, wood identification is critically important for a number of sectors, including government organizations, the wooden-based industry, museums, law enforcement, and scientists working in botany, ecology, forestry, and wood technology. Unfortunately, most wood species listed as “the least-known species” lack essential knowledge or their anatomical features and basic properties to promote their usage. This research aimed to investigate the anatomical characteristics and fiber quality of the least-known timber species of Apocynaceae family, which are authentic wood collection from Xylarium Bogoriense, namely, Ervatamia sphaerocarpa, E. aurantiaca, Kopsia flavida, Lepiniopsis ternatensis, Plumeria acuminata, P. rubra, and Voacanga foetida. Wood samples have indistinct growth ring boundaries, diffuse-porous vessels in diagonal and/or radial pattern, vessels in radial multiples of 4 or more cells, simple perforation plate, alternate intervessel pits; distinct borders of vessel-ray pits, similar with those of intervessel pits in size and shape throughout the ray cell, and septate fibers with simple pits to minutely bordered pits which are common in radial and tangential walls. Based on the fiber length and the derived values of fiber dimension, some species are classified into Quality Class II and III, and the rest of them are classified into Quality Class II or III for pulp and paper manufacturing. Based on general characteristics, commonly Apocynaceae can be used as handicrafts raw material. Based on the fiber quality, some species which are classified into Quality Class II, are predicted to have potential as pulp and paper material with medium quality

Wood Impregnation in Relation to Its Mechanisms and Properties Enhancement

The principle of wood impregnation entails treating wood with a monomer/impregnating agent that diffuses into the cell walls, often followed by polymerization to change desired properties. Numerous studies related to this matter have been reported and continue to attract more interest, as wood impregnation can significantly improve wood properties. These processes can be grouped into two approaches: active modification involves the chemical alteration of wood structure by cross-linking, and passive modification features filling of cell cavities and/or cell walls with impregnating agents without any chemical reaction taking place. Wood impregnations could have resulted in an increase in its weight gain due to impregnating agents filling its cavities. It will diminish the utilization of wood as an engineering material in selected application fields. Owing to the extensive literature available, this article summarizes the representative achievements of wood impregnation. The mechanisms, benefits, and drawbacks of various impregnating agents on wood properties, along with grouping the impregnating agents that cause greater or lesser weight gain of wood were analyzed, compared, and evaluated. Thus, according to the application state of wood impregnations, the problems existing in those processes and the developmental trends in the future are also discussed in this review