The influence of extractives on the radiation stability of wood

Abstract

The critical dose above which a decrease in toughness of Western Red Cedar and Peroba wood, extracted with benzene-alcohol is noted, was determined to be approximately 0.5 • 106 rad lower than that for the same non-extracted species. Investigations have shown that the presence of benzene-Mcohol extractives in wood raises its radiation stability. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the toughness curve which generally falls with increasing doses of absorbed irradiation shows a steeper decrease for extracted than for nonextracted wood.

Western redcedar—a literature review.

“…Toughness is increased by extracting extraneous compounds with an alcohol-benzene mixture (Raczkowski 1968, Lawniczak andRaczkowski 1970).…”

Dimensional Stabilisation of Wood: Factors Influencing it and the Principles of Treatment

“…The densification caused by the latter treatment is accompanied by some flow of lignin. (46,52,58,59,78) Because high energy radiation increases the dimensional stability of wood, it is to be expected that doses of gamma or beta radiation controlled to below the degradation limit would modify the hydrophylic properties of the radiation-sensitive hemic elluloses and celluloses. The presence of water and oxygen increases the complexity of all possible reactions.…”

Changing in Larch Sapwood Extractives Due to Distinct Ionizing Radiation Sources

“…Nevertheless, the influence of radiation on wood extractives has not been clarified in detail. Lawniczak and Raczkowski [ 12 ] concluded that the extractive prevents the wood for mechanical property losses caused by a radiation process.…”