Treesearch

The remarkable deformability of wood in a moist environment resembles that of ductile metals. A combination of traditional mechanical tests and cutting-edge diffraction experiments reveal the molecular mechanism that determines such behaviour.

Efforts to develop new environmentally friendly wood preservatives are seriously handicapped by the extended time period required to carry out the evaluation needed to establish confidence in the long term performance of new preservative systems. Studies in our laboratory have shown that using strength loss as a measure of the extent of wood decay makes it possible to detect the early stages of decay that results from non-ezymatic reactions. We have developed specialized equipment and techniques that have applications for both above ground and soil contact preservative systems. By coupling...

This paper compares the so-called exact approach for obtaining confidence intervals on normal distribution coefficients of variation to approximate methods. Approximate approaches were found to perform less well than the exact approach for large coefficients of variation and small sample sizes. Web-based computer programs are described for calculating confidence intervals on coefficients of variation for normally and lognormally distributed data.

The goal of our research is to promote healthy and sustainable forests by developing value-added uses for curved and small-diameter trees. In typical North American logging or thinning operations, much of this low- value timber is felled and left on the ground, chipped, or burned because most mills are not equipped to handle it. By understanding the fundamental processing requirements for and the mechanical properties of curved and small-diameter material, we can gain insight into possible options for using this resource. Through cooperative efforts with industry, universities, and...

The phenomenon of “self-absorption” was found to exist in the FT-Raman spectra of cellulose and thermomechanical pulp (TMP), but not in the spectrum of milled wood lignin. For cellulose and TMP, the effect was responsible for reducing the intensity of the Raman bands in the C-H stretch region. Several factors including sampling position, sample thickness, and moisture content of the sample affected the band suppression due to self-absorption. The intensity reduction, detected only in the C-H stretch region, was largely due to the fact that the aliphatic- and water- hydroxyl groups have...

The natural durability of 10 lesser known, commercially available Bolivian hardwoods to decay fungi was evaluated using a modified ASTM soil-block analysis for 12 weeks. The blocks were then retested for an additional 12 weeks to determine their level of decay resistance, as determined by percentage of weight loss. Astronium urundeuva, Caesalpinia cf. pluviosa, Schinopsis quebrachocolorado, and Tabebuia sp. (lapacho group) were found to be highly resistant to decay; Amburana cearensis, Anadenanthera colubrina (syn: A. macrocarpa), Aspidosperma cylindrocarpon, Diplotropis purpurea, and...

Conventional compression strength formulas for corrugated fiberboard boxes are limited to geometry and material that produce an elastic postbuckling failure. Inelastic postbuckling can occur in squatty boxes and trays, but a mechanistic rationale for unifying observed strength data is lacking. This study combines a finite element model with a parametric design of the geometry and material characteristics affecting the critical buckling stress of box panels to examine their postbuckling response. The finite element model enables a broad scope of simulated panels to be examined economically....

A wood cantilever loaded at the free end was analyzed using the anisotropic elasticity theory. This report presents a two-dimensional numerical example of a Sitka spruce cantilever in the longitudinal-radial plane. When the grain slope is zero, ie., the beam axis coincides with the longitudinal axis of wood, the stresses in the beam and the deflection of the beam are the same as those for an isotropic beam; when the grain slope is different from zero, the stresses and the deflection can increase significantly.

High density fibreboard (HDF) was made from beech and pine furnish (50:50) and treated with boric acid (0.1-3%), borax (0.1-3%) or N'-N-(1,8- naphthalyl) hydroxylamine (NHA) (0.1-1%) prior to gluing with urea formaldehyde (UF) resin in order to determine resistance to Eastern subterranean termites ( Reticulitermes flavipes Kollar), the most economically important termite species in North America. HDF and southern yellow pine (SYP) sapwood specimens were tested in a modified no-choice soil-block test normally used for fungal decay tests for 5 weeks. Within the first week of incubation, all...

The pulp and paper industry is applying new, ecologically sound technology in its manufacturing processes. Many interesting enzymatic applications have been proposed in the literature. Implemented technologies tend to change the existing industrial process as little as possible. Commercial applications include xylanases in prebleaching kraft pulps and various enzymes in recycling paper. In the future, value-added products could be built around enzyme processes. When new applications are proposed that do not fit into existing practices, either the process or the enzyme must be altered. The...