• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.191-209
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• 2021

Australia has significant wood resources in its native forest, but the resource available for harvest becomes lesser due to the conversion of native forest to conservation reserves. The natural occurrences of bushfires, droughts, and cyclones are highly destructive, making the situation worse. The shortage of wood resources is having a significant negative impact on Australia because wood is so scarce that they cannot meet domestic demands, especially durable wood. Australia cleared approximately 100 million hectares of its land to establish forest plantations, and two million trees were planted. However, most of these plantations are for pulpwood production; however, their application for high-value products is limited due to their undesirable properties. Wood modification is a process of improving unfavorable wood properties to be utilized for a wide range of applications. Australia has not adopted any of these modification processes; it still depends on the less toxic wood preservative to treat wood. This study focuses on the recent advancement in industrial wood modification worldwide and how it may be used to modify Eucalyptus wood for high-value applications. The opportunities and suggestions for Eucalyptus wood modification in Australia will be discussed. Before the study concludes, the future of commercial wood modification for Eucalyptus plantation in Australia will also be presented.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.74-83
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• 1989

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2018

Wood Polymer Composites(WPC) have attracted significant attention because of ecological and environmental concerns. However, the structure of Wood Flour containing many hydroxyl groups(-OH) reduces the interface adhesion to Phenol-formaldehyde(PF) and it decreases the mechanical properties of the PF/Wood Flour Composites. The present work involves the modification of Wood Flour using silanes reinforced with Phenol-formaldehyde to enhance the mechanical properties of the composites. The spectroscopic properties of the composites were analyzed using FT-IR, XPS(X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) and the mechanical properties i.e., tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength were studied. We confirmed the modification effect of silanes by spectroscopic analysis, and the mechanical properties of the composites using wood flour modified by silanes were significantly improved.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2003

Wood cell-wall modification with acetic anhydride, lumen filled with styren monomer and methyl methacrylate, and a combination of these two treatments were studied for their effectiveness for dimensional stability. Compared to those of untreated Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc and sole acetylated red pine, The combination of acetylation and impregnation with methy methacrylate greatly reduced water absorption, increased ASE to the best and gave better bending strength and compression strength.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.43-49
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• 2006

The surface and pore structure of cellulose fibers have a significant impact on the properties and performance in applications. Cellulase enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose fibers can result in changes to the surface and pore structure thus providing a useful tool for fiber modification. This research characterizes these changes using various test methods such as fiber dimension, water retention value, hard-to-remove water content, freezing and non-freezing bound water content, polymer adsorption, and crystallinity index. For a high-dosage enzyme treatment (0.10 g/g), the fiber length was significantly decreased and the fibers were 'cut' in the cross direction, not in the axial direction. The swelling capacities as measured by the WRV and HR water content increased for the high-dosage treatment. Three independent measurements (non-freezing bound water, polymer adsorption, and crystallinity index) are in good agreement with the statement that the amorphous regions of cellulose fibers are a more readily available substrate relative to crystalline regions. Based on the experimental results obtained herein, a model was proposed to explain surface and pore structure modification of cellulose fibers via enzymatic treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.169-180
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• 2021

Inherent crystalline domains present in low formaldehyde to urea (F/U) molar ratio urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins are responsible for their poor adhesion in wood-based composite panels. To modify the crystallinity of low molar ratio (LMR) UF resins, this study investigates the additional effect of cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs), such as cellulose microfibrils (CMFs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and TEMPO-oxidized CNFs (TEMPO-CNFs) on the crystallinity of modified LMR UF resins. First, two modification methods (post-mixing and in situ) were compared for modified LMR UF resins with TEMPO-CNFs. The modified UF resins with TEMPO-CNFs decreased the nonvolatile solid contents, while increasing the viscosity and gel time. However, the in situ modification of UF resins with TEMPO-CNFs showed lower crystallinity than that of post-mixing. Then, the in situ method was compared for all CNMs to modify LMR UF resins. The modified UF resins with CMFs using the in situ method increased nonvolatile solid contents and viscosity but decreased the gel time. The crystallinity of UF resins modified with TEMPO-CNFs was the lowest even though the crystalline domains were not significantly changed for all modified UF resins. These results suggest that these CNMs should be modified to prevent the formation of crystalline domains in LMR UF resins.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2000

This study was carried out to introduce functional groups onto wood by reacting with 2-methacryloyloxyethyl isocyanate(MOI). The effects of the catalyst and the reaction conditions(temperature and time) on the treatment were investigated. The evidence of bonding between wood and MOI were examined by infrared(IR) spectroscopy. The change in surface characteristics of MOI treated wood was examined by water contact angle measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Wood reacted quickly with MOI in the presence of di-n-butiltin dilaurate catalyst. Especially, the increase in weight percent gain(WPG) with increasing in reaction time was remarkable at the reaction temperature of over $50^{\circ}C$. The IR spectrum of wood reacted with MOI showed a strong urethane absorption(1715 $cm^{-1}$) but no isocyanate(2235 $cm^{-1}$) absorption. It also showed a sharp olefinic C=C double bond absorption at 1635 $cm^{-1}$. This means that an introduced methacrylate group becomes the starting point of further graft copolymerization with another vinyl monomers. The wood modified with MOI showed a gradual increase in contact angle with increasing in WPG, which means that the hydrophilic wood surface become quite hydrophobic. Also, it was cleared that most parts of the wood surface were modified with MOI by XPS analysis.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.18-21
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• 2013

In this study, surface modification of wood powder by atmospheric pressure plasma treatment was investigated. The composites were manufactured using wood powder and polypropylene(wood powder : PP = 55 wt% : 45 wt%). Atmospheric pressure plasma was treated as condition of 3KV, $17{\pm}1$KHz, 2 g/min. Helium was used as carrier gas and monomer such as hexamethyl-disiloxane(HMDSO) was used to modify surface property by plasma polymerization. The tensile strength of untreated waste wood powder(W3) and homogeneous wood powder(H3) were about 18.5 MPa, 21.5 MPa while the tensile strength of plasma treated waste wood powder(PW3) and homogeneous wood powder(PH3) were about 21.2 MPa, 23.4 MPa, respectively. And tensile strength of W3 and H3 were improved by 14.6% and 8.8%, respectively. From the results for mechanical property, morphological analysis, we obtained improved interfacial bonding of polypropylene and wood powder modified by plasma treatment.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.27
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• pp.29-33
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• 2009

Liquefied-wood polymer composite was prepared and mechanical properties was evaluated to develop potential utility of liquefied wood. The liquefied wood was made from waste wood and chemical modified with acetic anhydride and maleic anhydride (MA), phtalic anhydride (PA). The composite sheet was prepared from modified liquefied-wood and polymer(PE). The mechanical, chemical and microscopical properties composite sheet were investigated. The results were summarized as follows, 1. The tensile strength was increased and breaking elongation of composite sheet was decreased with the time of acetylation and the dosage of MA. 2. The Young's modulus of composite sheet was gradually decreased with the dosage of PA. 3. The peak intensity of 1737cm-1 in FT-IR spectra of chemical modified liquefied woods was increased. 4. The dispersity of liquefied woods with PE was improved with chemical modification.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.38-52
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• 1982

The effect of propylene oxide, butylene oxide, furan resin, and vinylpyrrolidinone in controlling wood dimensional stability have been examined. Wood in the green or ovendry condition was treated with various chemical treatments using a vacuum-pressure procedure, and treated specimens were tested for tangential sweelling, moisture gain, and changes in sorption hysteresis. Results' indicate that propylene oxide, and butylene oxide enhanced with the crosslin king agent trimethylol propane trimethacrylate and applied to ovendry wood were the most efficient chemical treatments in controlling tangential sweeling caused by liquid water or water vapor, and in reducing water vapor adsorption. The sorption behavior of treated wood as depicted by the ratios of sorption was "very favorable" in most instances. In the particular case of furan resin treatments, ratios of sorption were improved from 25 to 100 percent as compared to those of untreated wood.