Abstract
Eucalyptus nitens is a fast growing plantation species that has a good acclimation in Spain and Chile. At the moment it is mainly used for pulp and paper production, but there is a growing market for solid wood products made from this species. Thermal modification offers a good alternative to produce high quality material to manufacture products with high added value. This study used unmodified and thermally modified E. nitens wood from Spanish and Chilean plantations to elaborate external decking and examine if it complies with the necessary properties to be a competitive product. A process similar to ThermoWood® was applied at the following temperatures: 185 °C, 200 °C and 215 °C. For each modification and for an unmodified specimen mass loss, volumetric swelling, anti-swelling efficiency (ASE) and equilibrium moisture content (EMC) were determined. Brinell hardness, dynamic hardness, screw and nail withdrawal resistance, and abrasion resistance according to the Shaker method and the Taber Abraser method were also determined. According to this study, thermally modified E. nitens from both countries showed high potential to be used as decking material, particularly when modified at 200 °C.
Highlights
In the last 30 years there has been a steady growth of Eucalyptus nitens plantations in south of Chile and in the region of Galicia in Spain, as it is a species with great adaptability to frost and colder climate conditions
mass loss (ML) increased with rising treatment temperature (Table 2), which is in line with increasing ML obtained in tests with other Eucalypt species at similar process conditions, such as E. saligna in a modified autoclave modification and E. globulus (8.7 % at 190 °C and 12.1 % at 200 °C) in a modified laboratory oven modification (Esteves et al, 2007a)
Oven-dry density (Table 1) decreased with increasing modification temperature, which occurred in vacuum-thermally modified E. pellita wood (Wang et al, 2014) and E. grandis (Calonego et al, 2012)
Summary
The current review for the Forestry Plan of Galicia (Xunta de Galicia, 2018), which analyzed the Spanish Forestry Inventory, and the Spanish Forestry Map suggested for E. nitens in this region forests of approximately 40,000 ha, and proposed an increase of 30.000 ha during the 20 years. This number should be higher, as E. nitens plantations have been replacing E. globulus plantations due to its higher resistance against pathogens and cold. In most cases research has been focused on the variation of color, the changes of the mechanical and physical properties and variations of the chemical composition
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
