Forest Products Laboratory

Title: Enhanced understanding of the relationship between chemical modification and mechanical properties of wood

Author: Frihart, Charles R.; Yelle, Daniel J.; Ralph, John; Moon, Robert J.; Stone, Donald S.; Jakes, Joseph E.

Date: 2008

Source: 9th Pacific Rim Bio-Based Composites Symposium : "Innovation and Challenges in Bio-based Composites--How Far to the New Frontier?" : 5th-8th November 2008, Rotorua, New Zealand. [S.l. : s.n.], 2008: pages 141-147.

Description: Chemical additions to wood often change its bulk properties, which can be determined using conventional macroscopic mechanical tests. However, the controlling interactions between chemicals and wood take place at and below the scale of individual cells and cell walls. To better understand the effects of chemical additions to wood, we have adapted and extended two experimental methods for wood science research. The first method entails two-dimensional solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of wood cell wall polymers after ball milling but without the usual chemical fractionation methods. This allows for detailed characterization of cell wall polymers and their reactions with chemicals that infiltrate the cell wall. The second method improves currently established nanoindentation analysis so the mechanical properties of wood cell walls can be determined free of artefacts arising from nearby structural heterogeneities including the lumen and various cell wall layers.

Keywords: Wood chemistry, chemical reactions, nanostructured materials, measurement, composite materials, mechanical properties, nanotechnology, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, plant cell walls, wood-plastic composites, chemical modification of wood, modified wood, nanoindentation, wood-plastic materials, wood modification, adhesives

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Citation

Frihart, Charles R.; Yelle, Daniel J.; Ralph, John; Moon, Robert J.; Stone, Donald S.; Jakes, Joseph E.  2008.  Enhanced understanding of the relationship between chemical modification and mechanical properties of wood.   9th Pacific Rim Bio-Based Composites Symposium : "Innovation and Challenges in Bio-based Composites--How Far to the New Frontier?" : 5th-8th November 2008, Rotorua, New Zealand. [S.l. : s.n.], 2008: pages 141-147..