Treesearch

Cellulose-based materials are increasingly finding applications in technology due to their sustainability and biodegradability. The sensitivity of cellulose fiber networks to environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity is well known. Yet, there is an incomplete understanding of the dependence of the fracture toughness of cellulose networks on environmental conditions. In the current study, we assess the effect of moisture content on the out-of-plane (i.e., z-dir.) fracture toughness of a particular cellulose network, specifically Whatman cellulose filter paper. Experimental...

Availability of and access to wood identification expertise or technology is a critical component for the design and implementation of practical, enforceable strategies for effective promotion, monitoring and incentivisation of sustainable practices and conservation efforts in the forest products value chain. To address this need in the context of the multi-billion-dollar North American wood products industry 22-class, image-based, deep learning models for the macroscopic identification of North American diffuse porous hardwoods were trained for deployment on the open-source, field-deployab...

November month-over-month and year-over-year housing data were primarily positive. Only single-family housing completions were negative month-over-month. Single-family starts, permits, completions and new sales were negative year-over-year. Single-family permits and starts, total housing completions, and new and existing house sales were negative year-over-year. Existing house sales also were negative year-over-year. Completions continue to be restrained due to the unavailability of building materials and products, combined with other factors. Thus, certain builders may be reluctant to...

The month-over-month and year-over-year housing data for October were mostly positive. Total and single-family starts and single-family housing completions were negative month-over-month. Single-family permits and starts, total housing completions, and new and existing house sales were negative year-over-year. Currently there are more multifamily units under construction than at any time over the past 47 years. Completions remained restrained due to the unavailability of building materials and products, among other factors. Thus, certain builders may be reluctant to start new projects...

December 2021 month-over-month and year-over-year housing data were mostly positive. Single-family housing starts, total housing and multifamily completions, and existing sales were negative month-over-month. Single-family starts and permits, total housing and multifamily completions, existing and new sales were negative year-over-year. Completions continue to be restrained due to the unavailability of building materials and products, combined with other factors. Thus, certain builders may be reluctant to start new projects while waiting to complete units under construction. Rental unit...

The regulation of building materials and products for flammability is critical to ensure the safety of occupants in buildings and other structures. The involvement of exposed building materials and products in fires resulting in the loss of human life often spurs an increase in regulation and new test methods to address the problem. Flammability tests range from those in which the sample is ground to a powder prior to testing to the full-scale room corner test. Variations in test methods include the specific measurement of flammability parameters being considered, the intensity and...

This paper models bench-scale experiments using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The experiments measured the temperature profiles of fire-protected cross laminated timber (CLT) specimens exposed to parametric fire curve. The bench-scale experiment specimen is 250 x 250 mm and consists of a CLT panel 100 mm with three layers of gypsum plasterboard 15.5 mm as thermal and fire insulation The specimens were exposed to a heat flux generated by a heat-transfer rate inducing system (H-TRIS) device. Two numerical models were created in order to copy the experiment conditions, one by using...

The month-over-month and year-over-year housing data for September were mixed. Single-family permits and starts, harbingers for current and future construction, were negative month-over-month and year-over-year. Completions remained slowed due to the unavailability of building materials and products, among other factors. Total and single-family housing under construction were the only categories positive on month-over-month and year-over-year bases.

In the bio-based economy, conversion of biomass to biofuels and other products is essential for developing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. For this to become a reality, understanding of the biomass ultrastructure is critically important. For instance, to enhance the yield of fermentable sugars from enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, the understanding of the latter’s supramolecular structure and the ability to modify it appropriately is essential. Although cellulose crystallinity is one way to define the aggregated structure, previous research has shown that merely studying how...