Establishing regularities in the propagation of phase transformation front during timber thermal modification

Abstract

The creation of environmentally friendly protective materials for building structures made of wood could make it possible to influence the processes of stability and the physical-chemical properties at the thermal modification of hornbeam wood over a certain time. That necessitates studying the conditions for investigating phase transformations when the timber is exposed to high temperature, as well as establishing the mechanism of hornbeam wood thermal modification. Given this, a mathematical model of the phase transformation process during the transfer of heat flux to a sample was built. Based on the derived dependences, it was established that when hornbeam wood is exposed to temperature treatment, it undergoes endothermic phase transformations characterized by the heat absorption and change in the color of hornbeam wood. In particular, at a temperature of 200 °C, the temperature in the wood decreases by 5 % due to the chemical changes in the structure of cell wall components (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose). It was found that the process of thermal modification is accompanied by the decomposition of hemicellulose and the amorphous part of cellulose, a decrease in moisture absorption, as well as a decrease in the volume of substances that are a medium for the development of fungi. In addition, lignin and the resulting pseudo lignin undergo a process of polymerization and redistribution throughout the cell volume. At the same time, they give the cell walls higher density, hardness, increase hydrophobicity (water repellency), thereby reducing the ability to absorb moisture and swell. It was established that the most effective parameter of phase transformations is the temperature and aging duration. The results of moisture absorption have been given; it has been found that over 6 hours of modified timber exposure, its moisture absorption decreases by more than 10 times, which allows its application at facilities with high humidity