Impact of Thermal Treatment on Anatomical and Mechanical Properties of Ricinodendron heudelotii Wood

Abstract

The study examined the impact of thermal treatment on anatomical and mechanical properties Ricinodendron heudelotii wood. Wood samples were oven dried at 105°C and cooled in a desiccator to a constant weight before the thermal treatment. Heat treatment of wood was carried out in a Furnace at 120°C, 140°C and 160°C for 45 minutes and 90 minutes. The Density, Modulus of Elasticity (MOE), Modulus of Rupture (MOR), and the anatomical properties were assessed. The results for Density of Ricinodendron heudelotii wood showed decrease from 279 kg/m3 (120°C at 45 minutes) to 256 kg/m3 (160°C at 90 minutes) while that of control was 281 kg/m3 which was lower than the treated samples. The increase in temperature with time had effect of the color of wood as it changed from creamy white to dark brown. The image of untreated and treated samples showed no significant changes within and among treatment groups as there was no effect of treatment time and exposure on the samples.
 The MOE of heat treated Ricinodendron heudelotii increased from 2064.84 N/mm2 (140°C for 45 minutes) to 2271.93 N/mm2 (160°C for 90 minutes) while MOR decreased from 40.56 N/mm2 (140°C for 90 minutes) to 33.53 N/mm2 (160°C for 90 minutes). The study revealed that the wood could be used in a light furniture as unnecessarily heavy wood is not important. Also, the study proved effective in improving the modulus of elasticity of the wood.

Acoustic Properties of Resonant Spruce Wood Modified Using Oil-Heat Treatment (OHT)

“…After determining the density and mechanical parameters of all samples, they were divided into 4 groups (of similar mean values), for modification under different temperature variants. Modification was carried out in 4 temperature variants: 140, 160, 180 and 200 • C. These are the temperatures used when modifying wood for testing [14,21], and in industry [15]. By using several variants of the modification temperature, it was possible to determine how the temperature affects the properties of the wood.…”

“…Absorption occurs when the oil temperature drops after the modification with samples still in the medium, or when the material is extracted from the oil immediately after the modification time. Studies have also shown changes of resonance parameters of wood after biological modification [20] and descriptions of changes in the mechanical parameters of wood after thermal modification in a superheated steam atmosphere [8,14,[21][22][23][24]. However, to date, we have found no study describing the direct impact of OHT modification on the acoustic parameters of resonant wood.…”

“…At the beginning of the 20th century, Tiemann found that drying wood at high temperatures reduces its equilibrium moisture content [6]. One effect of this action is a greater biological durability of wood [7][8][9][10] and increased dimensional stability [11][12][13][14].…”

Effect of tin-bath treatment on anatomical properties of Firmiana simplex wood

“…Our findings agree with the report of recently published work. 12 Previous studies asserted that the influence of treatment method on anatomical structures of wood varied principally according to the different modifications system. 1,5 Contrarily, another study asserted that different modification system (open and closed system) does not have a significant bearing on anatomical changes.…”