Abstract
The common method to impregnate wood with polyethylene glycol (PEG) is to store the samples for several weeks in aqueous PEG-solution, allowing for diffusion of PEG into the wood. As this method is poorly suited for industrial application, an alternative approach based on vacuum-pressure treatment is evaluated in the present study. Using European oak wood and three variants of PEG, including silane-functionalized PEG, impregnation experiments at different PEG concentrations were performed. Significant uptake of PEG resulted in clearly altered wood-water relations and improved dimensional stability of oak wood. These results are discussed in terms of stability in humid and aqueous environments, and in terms of effects of the anatomy of oak wood on differences in dimensional stabilization observed along the radial and tangential anatomical directions, respectively. While both of the PEG variants perform better with an anti-shrinkage efficiency of up to 80%, the PEG-silane variant performs less effectively in this respect; however PEG-silane is clearly predominant in case of water extraction.
Highlights
Wood as a natural material features several beneficial properties such as good mechanical performance at comparably low weight, biodegradability, and renewability
The increase in specimen mass after impregnation expressed in terms of weight percent gain (WPG) is a widely used indicator of impregnation efficiency
The results of the WPG measurements confirm the suitability of a short-term vacuum-pressure impregnation method for polyethylene glycol (PEG) and PEG-silane in principle, especially in contrast to the classical impregnation method driven by diffusion only
Summary
Wood as a natural material features several beneficial properties such as good mechanical performance at comparably low weight, biodegradability, and renewability. Schneider [21] describes the bulking effect of PEG in beech and pine wood as a blocking effect of PEG that diffuses into the cell wall during treatment and during drying/conditioning. Et al [26] studied the mechanical properties of PEG 600 impregnated oak wood on small specimens (3 weeks treatment) They found only a slight reduction in axial tensile modulus and strength, but detected up to 50% lower compressive modulus and yield strength in radial direction. A equal new in improved to PEG impregnation is followed by combining [21] found for beech and pine a higher dimensional stabilization in radial direction compared to the beneficial features of PEG with the advantages of silanes for wood modification. Experiments are conducted with PEG and with silane-functionalized PEG, and the resulting wood property improvements are comprehensively characterized
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