Treesearch

Current standards for installation of fenestration units, such as ASTM E2112-07, “Standard Practice for Installation of Exterior Windows, Doors and Skylights” do not address regional considerations, or how the level of wind and rain exposure could influence installation methodology. In the coastal southeastern United States, where extreme wind-driven rain events occur with some regularity, more robust methods than those prescribed in ASTM E2112-07 are necessary. In Florida, single family houses are commonly constructed with surface barrier concrete masonry walls on the first story, and...

A series of commercial phenol-formaldehyde bonded MDF panels were exposed to a post-manufacture heat-treatment at various temperatures and durations using a hot press and just enough pressure to ensure firm contact between the panel and the press platens. Physical properties and static flexural strengths of the post heat-treated MDF panels were evaluated according to ASTM D 1037 (2002). The results indicated that the post-manufacture heat-treatment of the exterior MDF panels resulted in improvement of thickness swelling. Water absorption and linear expansion properties were adversely...

The international forest products research community is responding to these driving forces by conducting NDT/NDE research to provide the technologies needed to address these challenges. This article presents a sample of the on-going NDT/NDE research efforts being conducted in several areas of the world.

In many parts of the world, efforts are being made to recycle chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated materials. While positive steps have been taken to identify CCA-treated lumber in the waste stream, little has been done to find a fast and accurate means to ascertain the level of preservative that exists in the lumber. The ability of the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique to determine the level of residual CCA preservative in reclaimed decking was assessed in this experimental pilot study. Control specimens at treatment levels of 0, 2.5, 3.7, 8.5, and 11.8 kg of CCA...

Complete cellulase, an endoglucanase (EGV) with cellulose-binding domain (CBD) and a mutant endoglucanase without CBD (EGI) were utilized for the hydrolysis of a fully bleached reed Kraft pulp sample. The changes of microfibrils on the fiber surface were examined with tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM–AFM) phase imaging. The results indicated that complete cellulase could either peel the fibrillar bundles along the microfibrils (peeling) or cut microfibrils into short length across the length direction (cutting) during the process. After 24 h treatment, most orientated microfibrils...

This documentation is meant to accompany CVal, a downloadable spreadsheet tool. CVal was constructed for foresters, other land management advisors, landowners, and carbon credit aggregators to evaluate the direct benefits and costs of entering into contracts for carbon sequestered in managed forests and forest plantations. CVal was designed to evaluate Exchange Forestry Offset (XFO) contracts on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), although the meth-odology could be adapted for other trading mechanisms and agricultural sequestration projects. Both the documentation and the spreadsheet tool...

Low-temperature pyrolysis offers a feasible option for wood-waste management and the recovery of a variety of useful chemicals. The effect of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) wood preservative on the yield and composition of various pyrolysis products was investigated in the present research. A novel quantitative 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy methodology has been developed to quantify levoglucosan and levoglucosenone from the pyrolysate of CCA-treated and untreated wood. The CCA treatment of wood had a notable effect on the characteristics of the carbohydrate-derived...

This report provides an index method that can be used to update recent estimates of timber harvest by state to a common current year and to make 5-year projections. The Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program makes estimates of harvest for each state in differing years. The purpose of this updating method is to bring each state-level estimate up to a common current year. For each state, each of several components of harvest is updated to the current year. Estimate outputs are based on inputs from established models such as Timber Cut (TCUT) and historical wood products...

The Western Governors' Association assessment of biofuels potential in western states estimated the location and capacity of biofuels plants that could potentially be built for selected gasoline prices in 2015 using a mixed integer programming model. The model included information on forest biomass supply curves by county (developed using Forest Service FIA data), agricultural biomass supply curves, transportation networks, and capital and operating costs of selected conversion technologies. Results indicate biofuels could potentially provide between 5 and 10 percent of projected transporta...

Poor formation in paper, as denoted by large local variation of mass, tends to reduce maximum tensile strength but has not been well characterized. The effect of grammage variation on tensile strength was studied by introducing carefully placed holes in tensile specimens made of three different paper materials. Previous researchers demonstrated that the point-stress criterion (PSC) accurately predicts failure for paper specimens containing a single hole. Results of comparing the PSC for multiple holes in paper indicated the PSC provided a conservative strength estimate for specimens with...