Treesearch

The field of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of materials is constantly evolving. This is especially true in the area of wood and fiber-based materials. A significant effort has been devoted toward the discovery and development of NDE technologies for use with wood-based products. Today, research and technology transfer efforts are underway throughout the world to further the development and use of nondestructive methods to address the many challenges that arise with using forest resources. Efforts are underway that span a broad spectrum of utilization and technology issues from those that...

Durable Solutions for Balconies and Decks is an illustrated guide that identifies design principles and construction practices to improve the moisture performance of wood-framed balconies and decks in low-and mid-rise multifamily buildings. Wood-framed construction is common for low-and mid-rise multifamily and mixed-use buildings containing apartments or condominiums, as well as commercial or retail spaces. It is also typical for these buildings to have balconies and decks in all or most dwelling units, for both their functional and architectural qualities. In terms of durability,...

Acetylation is a type of commercial wood modification used to enhance the durability of wood. Despite its adoption, especially in outdoor environments, there are mixed data on how acetylation affects the combustion of wood. This paper evaluates the differences in acetylated and untreated wood using a cone calorimeter in combination with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to look for acetic acid vapors in the combustion gases. Two thicknesses of acetylated pine boards were tested and compared against an untreated board from the same genus. No differences were observed between...

Mycelium-bonded bio-composites are an emerging class of novel materials developed over the past ten years. These have attracted significant research and commercialization interest with a steadily increasing number of papers, patents, and products. The basic idea behind these novel composites is to use fungal mycelia to bond substrates, mostly lignocellulosic biomass, together. Therefore, fungal mycelia in the system actually work as adhesives. This kind of adhesive is different from traditionally recognized resin-based adhesives in characteristics, processing, application field, and...

Following life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, this study presents a state-level estimation of embodied carbon of wood products harvested in 2019 from California and subsequently processed, manufactured, transported, used, and disposed at the end-of-life (EoL). In a conventional static approach to LCA, all GHG emissions were aggregated and considered to occur at year 0 of the given time horizon (500 years in this study) and used a static characterization factor (CF). In dynamic LCA, GHG emissions occurring in different years were considered, and their global warming impact (GWI) was...

The vexing error of excess variance in measurements of nanoparticle size distributions degrades accuracy in applications ranging from quality control of nanoparticle products to hazard assessment of nanoplastic byproducts. The particular importance of lipid nanoparticles for vaccine and medicine delivery motivates this Letter to the Editor, which concerns a publication 1 in ACS Nan and also presents original research. In ref 1, the benchmark measurements of a nanoparticle standard manifest large errors of the size distribution that contradict the claim of validation. In subsequent applicati...

In 1596, the San Pedro, en route from Colombia to Spain, went down in a hurricane off Bermuda, with the loss of its entire cargo. Among the ship’s contents, salvaged between 1950 and 1961, was the most complete collection of 16th century Indigenous weapons recovered from a maritime context, including bows and arrows, darts, stone axes, and two examples of a rare, distinctive style of club. These clubs, featuring a flaring terminal end embellished with recessed two-dimensional geometric design panels, are documented in 16th and 17th century accounts of Indigenous warriors in the Lesser...

In October, month-over-month data declined in the majority of categories. Year-over-year data remain positive in most categories. Single-family permits and starts decreased again, month-over-month and year-over-year. Increasing borrowing costs, slow income growth, and elevated house prices have resulted in a major obstacle for new and existing house sales. October was the ninth consecutive monthly decrease for existing house sales. Single-family construction spending decreased for the sixth straight month.

A high-resolution differential mobility analyzer (DMA) is used for the first time to study the mobility distribution of Polystyrene Latex (PSL) particles. We investigate in particular some unique, nominally 200 nm and 100 nm PSL particles, known by other methods to be unusually monodisperse. The suspensions are electrosprayed after adding ammonium acetate to a concentration of 10 mmol/L. Mobility analysis is carried out after charge reduction with a second electrospray of the opposite polarity. The 200 nm particles typically produce two narrow peaks, with relative intensities that depend...

Because of environmental awareness and regulations and the advent of environmental preferential purchasing, documenting the environmental profiles of building products using life-cycle assessment (LCA) has become a widespread emergent global trend. This study conducted a cradle-to-gate LCA of hardwood lumber production in the southeastern United States. System boundaries in this study included the following production stage information modules: raw material extraction (A1), resource and material transportation (A2), and hardwood lumber manufacturing (A3). Module A1 included forest managemen...