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Content archived on 2019-03-12

IMPREGNATION OF POPLAR-WOOD WITH WATER-DILUTABLE COLD CURING RESINS

Objective

POPLAR WOOD IS A FAST GROWING WOOD SPECIES PRODUCED IN HOLLAND, AND ALSO IN OTHER COUNTRIES IN EEC.
UP TO NOW IT IS USED MAINLY FOR PAPER, PARTICLE BOARD, PLYWOOD AND PALLETS. FOR OTHER PURPOSES THE USE OF THIS COMPARATIVELY CHEAP SOURCE OF WOOD IS RESTRICTED BY ITS INSUFFICIENT HARDNESS, STABILITY AND DURABILITY. POPLAR WOOD, AS S FAST GROWING WOOD, HAS AN OPEN STRUCTURE AND CAN EASILLY BE IMPREGNATED.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO MAKE USE OF THIS OPEN STRUCTURE BY IMPROVING DIMENSIONAL STABILITY AND WEATHERABILITY THROUGH IMPREGNATION WITH SPECIALLY DESIGNED WATER-DILUTABLE, REACTIVE SYNTHETIC RESINS.
THE UNDERLYING IDEA OF THIS APPROACH IS THAT, USING WATER-DILUTABLE RESINS OF COMPRATIVELY LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT, THESE MAY PENETRATE IINTO HYDROPHYLIC CELL WALLS..

AFTER CURING, THE RESINS ARE INSOLUBLE IN WATER, AND IN A FINELY DISPERSED CONDITION THEY WILL REINFORCE THE SWOLLEN CELL WALL, THUS PROVIDING DIMENSIONAL STABILITY. AT THE SAME TIME THIS PROCEDURE MAY PREVENT SURFACE CRACKING DURING WEATHERING OF THE WOOD.

IN THIS APPROACH, WORK WILL BE CONCENTRATED ON THE APPLICATION OF A RESIN LOADING THAT WILL FORM A COMPROMISE BETWEEN ATTAINED PROPERTIES AND TREATMENT COSTS. THE TOTAL COSTS SHOULD AT MAXIMUM BE THE PRICE OF TROPICAL HARD WOODS.
WORK IN THIS PROJECT IS BASED ON PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH THIS TYPE OF APPROACH.
FOR ALL EXPERIMENTS IN THIS PROJECT THE POPLAR WOOD CLONE ROBUSTA WILL BE USED.
ALL IMPREGNATION WILL BE EXECUTED BY A STANDARD VAC/VAC METHOD; BOTH THE GREEN WOOD AS WELL AS THE AIR DRIED WOOD WILL BE USED AS STARTING MATERIALS.

THE EVALUATION OF THE PROPERTIES WILL BE CONCENTRATED AT FIRST ON DIMENSIONAL STABILITY. TO THIS PURPOSE, SWELLING WILL BE MEASURED AFTER SHORT TIME AND LONG TIME EXPOSURE TO WATER. IN ADDITION THE INFLUENCE OF REPEATED IMMERSION/DRYING CYCLES WILL BE STUDIED AS A CHECK ON THE LEACHABILITY OF THE RESIN.

THE RESINS WILL BE OF TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT TYPES OF WATER-DILUTABLE, ROOM TEMPERATURE CURING MACRO MOLECULES.
ONE TYPE OF RESIN WILL CONSIST OF UNSATURATED RESIN-MONOMER COMBINATIONS; THE OTHER TYPE OF RESIN WILL CROSS-LINK BY AUTO-OXYDATIVE REACTION MECHANISMS. THE ABOVE MENTIONED PROPERTIES OF THE IMPREGNATED POPLAR WOOD WILL BE TESTED AT VARIOUS RESIN-WOOD RATIOS.
OCCASIONALLY ALSO BENDING STRENGTH, E MODULE AND HARDNESS WILL BE DETERMINED. AT THE END OF THIS PROJECT SOLUBILIZED FUNGICIDES AND FINELY DISPERSED COLLOIDAL IRON OXIDE PIGMENTS WILL BE INCORPORATED IN THE MOST PROMISING RESIN SOLUTION. THE FIXATION OF THESE PRODUCTS INTO THE CELL WALLS WOULD GREATLY IMPROVE DURABILITY.

ALL EXPERIMENTS WILL BE EXECUTED ON POPLAR WOOD SAMPLES WITH DIMENSIONS OF 400X20X20 MM.
FROM THE RESULTS OBTAINED IT WILL BE DEDUCED WHETHER THIS METHOD WILL BE SUITABLE FOR SMALL DIAMETER LOGS, FOR FINISHED WOOD, FOR LAMINATED WOOD FOR VENEERS OR FOR SURFACE TREATMENTS.

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Coordinator

C.O.T.
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Address
340 zijlweg
Haarlem
Netherlands

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