Superhydrophobic coatings on wood made of plant oil and natural wax

Thin coatings for fire protection: An overview of the existing strategies, with an emphasis on layer-by-layer surface treatments and promising new solutions

All-biobased transparent-wood: A new approach and its environmental-friendly packaging application.

On the drying behavior of natural oils used for solid wood finishing

The strength and stiffness of oriented wood and cellulose-fibre materials: A review

Transparent layer-by-layer coatings based on biopolymers and CeO2 to protect wood from UV light

Wood and natural fibers exhibit an advantageous combination of good mechanics at comparably low density. Nevertheless, comparing absolute strength and stiffness, wood is clearly inferior to materials such as metals and engineered composites. Since there is a strong correlation between wood density and wood mechanical performance, densification by transversal compression suggests itself as a route towards improved mechanics. Partially delignified densified spruce veneers with excellent tensile properties were produced by means of an alkaline (AL) and an organosolv (OS) approach. Plywood specimens were manufactured using treated veneers glued with a phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde adhesive and were compared with plywood samples made of native spruce veneers (Ref) and spruce veneer densified after plasticization by water impregnation (H2O). Roughly, the bending strength and the modulus of elasticity of plywood from partially delignified densified wood were improved by a factor of 2.4 and 3.5, respectively. Interlaminar shear strength did not match this improvement after partial delignification. Together with excessive thickness swelling, this might be a drawback of partially delignified densified wood in need for further research.

Preparation of High Strength Plywood from Partially Delignified Densified Wood.

Alkali-extracted tree bark for efficient bio-based thermal insulation

Carbon fibres were produced from two natural and two man-made cellulose fibres, respectively, in a high-temperature carbonisation process. The structure of the fibres was analysed by means of wide-angle X-ray scattering and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that longitudinal shrinkage of the fibres during carbonisation is correlated with the degree of orientation of cellulose crystals as determined by wide-angle X-ray scattering. Numerous micro-scale defects were found in carbonised natural cellulose fibres, particularly hemp, whereas the structural integrity of carbonised man-made cellulose was better preserved. Both Raman spectroscopy and wide-angle X-ray scattering revealed a trend of diminishing electrical resistivity with increasing structural (graphitic) order in the fibres. Overall, the electrical resistivity of cellulose-derived carbon fibres was between 40 and 70 Ω µm, which exceeds the resistivity of fossil-based carbon fibre by a factor ten.

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Structure and electrical resistivity of individual carbonised natural and man-made cellulose fibres

Thermosetting polymers are used in building materials, for example adhesives in fastening systems. They harden in environmental conditions with a daily temperature depending on the season and location. This curing process takes hours or even days effected by the relatively low ambient temperature necessary for a fast and complete curing. As material properties depend on the degree of cure, its accurate estimation is of paramount interest and the main objective in this work. Thus, we develop an approach for modeling the curing process for epoxy based thermosetting polymers. Specifically, we perform experiments and demonstrate an inverse analysis for determining parameters in the curing model. By using calorimetry measurements and implementing an inverse analysis algorithm by using open-source packages, we obtain 10 material parameters describing the curing process. We present the methodology for two commercial, epoxy based products, where a statistical analysis provides independence of material parameters leading to the conclusion that the material equation is adequately describing the material response.

/pdf/cure-kinetics-and-inverse-analysis-of-epoxy-amine-based-fm3bja4yyi.pdf

Ivana Czabany

Papers

Transparent layer-by-layer coatings based on biopolymers and CeO2 to protect wood from UV light

Preparation of High Strength Plywood from Partially Delignified Densified Wood.

Alkali-extracted tree bark for efficient bio-based thermal insulation

Structure and electrical resistivity of individual carbonised natural and man-made cellulose fibres

Cure Kinetics and Inverse Analysis of Epoxy-Amine Based Adhesive Used for Fastening Systems