Abstract
The combination of natural wood and graphene can provide a new type of material with excellent mechanical properties and thermal conductivity. However, it is difficult for graphene to uniformly penetrate the wood due to the anisotropy of natural wood and the agglomeration of graphene. In this work, poplar veneer was treated with low-energy-density microwave to expand the entry pathways for the graphene steering liquid. The porosity, weight percent gain, and chromatic aberration were used to examine the impact of the microwave time and power. We tested the mechanical properties, thermal conductivity of the graphene/polyvinyl alcohol-modified poplar veneer to evaluate its properties. At the same time, SEM, XRD, and FT-IR were used to characterize its physical and chemical structure. The results showed that low-energy-density microwave treatment increased the weight percentage gain (WPG) and porosity without affecting the mechanical properties of the poplar veneer. The graphene-modified poplar veneer with the optimal overall performance was obtained by microwave treatment at 100% microwave power for 50 s. Indeed, the micro-characterization also revealed that the microwave treatment mostly attacked the wood rays but had little effect on the materialized structure. Therefore, low-energy-density microwave treatment could be an energy-saving and efficient way to improve graphene-impregnated veneers.
Highlights
Traditional heating facilities, such as stoves, heaters, air conditioners, etc., generally cause severe environmental pollution, large amounts of wasted energy, uneven temperature distribution, discomfort among users, and high occupancy costs
The results showed that when the content of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) increased to 12 wt.%, the thermal conductivity of the wood plastic composites (WPCs) increased by 258.9%
In order to explore the best microwave treatment process, a two-factor complete experiment was conducted to explore the influence of microwave treatment on the performance of the poplar veneers impregnated by multilayer graphene/polyvinyl alcohol (MG/PVA)
Summary
Traditional heating facilities, such as stoves, heaters, air conditioners, etc., generally cause severe environmental pollution, large amounts of wasted energy, uneven temperature distribution, discomfort among users, and high occupancy costs. Fast-growing wood usually has a low density and poor mechanical strength, so it often appears in the form of a wood composite board that can be used as a floor heating surface material. It has several shortcomings including poor thermal conductivity, ranging from. The high-energy-density microwave (up to 1200 MJ·m−3 ) can transform the wood into a highly porous and macro-cracked material, which significantly improves the impregnation effect of functional modifiers; it does extreme harm to the microstructure and decreases the mechanical properties. The modified poplar veneer with the best performance was characterized to analyze the influence mechanism of the low-energy-density microwave treatment on the performance of graphene/PVA impregnated wood. This will help to promote the application of graphene/PVA impregnated veneer in wood flooring and the application of low-energy-density microwave in the wood impregnation modification process
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