Impregnation analysis of phenol-formaldehyde resin on sengon wood to explore the potential of sengon wood as construction material

Abstract

The current climate emergency is a growing concern, while construction activities are one of the biggest causes. Therefore, research is needed that leads to the application of construction with environmentally friendly materials such as wood. In this study, the wood used is sengon wood (Falcataria moluccana) because it has very abundant availability. However, sengon wood has low strength and durability, so treatment is needed to improve the quality of sengon wood so that its potential can be utilized. There were seven test variables, namely untreated sengon sawn wood, vacuum pressure impregnation with 5%, 10%, 15% phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin solution, cold immersion impregnation with 5%, 10%, and 15% PF. The results of this study showed that treatment of cold immersion concentrate PF 10% increases tensile strength parallel to fibre up to 91.5%, the biggest increase in value against one of the mechanical properties, but to improve the mechanical properties of the highest average is variable B with vacuum pressure treatment of concentrates 5% with the increase up to 9.1%. Regardless of the comparison of these variables, that the value of the mechanical properties of sengon wood as sawn wood without treatment already has the potential to be used as a construction material compared to the value of the lowest strength class of construction sawn wood material. According to this research, the average density of sengon wood is about 300 kg/m3 which tends to be categorized as a lightweight construction material, where the concept of a lightweight structure can trigger increased innovation in creating more varied architectural and structural designs.