No abstract

Thermo treatment on veneer has been recognized as environmentally friendly and can modify wood properties. The objectives of this study were to investigate mass loss of thermo-teak veneer, to assess the density changes, and to examine shrinkage based on different levels of temperature at different time lengths. The temperatures were 180, 200, 220, and 240 °C applied at three different lengths of time, i.e., 4, 8, and 12 min on teak veneer sheets. The results showed that the mass loss at the temperature of 180, 200, 220, and 240 °C were not significantly different. Density changes were significant depending on the level of temperatures. Percentage of density decrease changed from 3.85% to 15.69% at temperatures ranging from 180 to 240 °C but the length of time (4, 8, and 12 min of thermal treatment) did not have a significant effect. The mass loss ranged from 5.90% to 17.66%.

The objective of this study was to investigate the most influenced levels of pressure and length of time on modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of teak laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Teak LVL was taken from the Faculty of Forestry’s forest plantation in Vientiane, Laos. The peeled veneer’s thickness was 2.3 mm. The veneer was air-dried until the moisture content reached the range of 6 to 10 %. Teak LVL panels were assembled from 9-ply panels of veneer using PL116- Liquid phenol-formaldehyde resin adhesive. The temperature was at 120 °C at 3 different pressure levels i.e., 1.5, 2 and 2.5 MPa and levels of time i.e. 9, 11 and 13 min. The experiment was conducted based on ISO16978. Intron Machine Model 5569 was used for the bending test of LVL with a dimension of 20×20×360 mm3. The bending test results on teak LVL showed significantly different MOR and MOE based on length of time and pressure levels of pressing.