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This paper deals with the optical observation and evaluation of the swelling of beech wood samples (Fagus sylvatica L.) during gaseous ammonia treatment. The pressure level was varied in several experiments from ambient pressure to almost saturated steam pressure at isothermal conditions at 20°C. The initial moisture content of the wood was oven-dried and also conditioned (65% RH/ 20°C). All experiments were carried out in a self-developed experimental set-up. It consisted of three parts: a pressure vessel with a glass pane at the top, a camera with additional lighting above it and an algorithm for the semi-automatic evaluation of the data. Parallel investigation of the maximum swelling in water of specimens of the same origin showed that ammonia leads to a higher swelling in tangential direction (up to 23%). The swell-inhibiting influence by the wood rays can be observed on the basis of the comparison to the water swelling in radial direction. Furthermore, the results visualise the change in crystal structure from cellulose I to ammonia-cellulose I.

The vibrational properties of spruce (Picea abies Karst.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) were investigated in this study in dependence on the relative humidity (RH). The RH was measured at 20 °C ranging from oven-dried to 85%. For the evaluation of the vibrational properties the dynamic modulus of elasticity E’ and the damping coefficient tan δ were measured at 7 climate steps. The same samples used for the vibrational tests were afterwards mildly thermally modified at 180 °C and measured at the same climate steps. Both wood species were compared and evaluated considering the property changes (E’, tan δ, sorption isotherms and volume swelling) due to the thermal modification. The chosen modification resulted in a marginal change in the vibrational properties of spruce, whereas the properties of beech were clearly changed. The vibrational properties of beech could be improved in the usual RH range (35–85%) due to this thermal modification. For spruce, it was concluded that a mild modification, conducted in this study, is not suitable for improving the vibrational properties. Further conclusions concerning the underlying causes as well as the use in musical instruments were drawn.

The mechanical properties of cured wood adhesive films were tested in a dry state by means of nanoindentation. These studies have found that the application of adhesives have an effect on the accuracy of the hardness and elastic modulus determination. The highest values of hardness among the tested adhesives at 20 °C have condensation resins: MF (0.64 GPa) and RPF (0.52 GPa). Then the decreasing EPI (0.43 GPa), PUR (0.23 GPa) and PVAc (0.14 GPa) adhesives. The values of the elastic modulus look a little bit different. The highest values among the tested adhesives at 20 °C have EPI (11.97 GPa), followed by MF (10.54 GPa), RPF (7.98 GPa), PVAc (4.71 GPa) and PUR (3.37 GPa). X-ray micro-computed tomography was used to evaluate the adhesive joint by the determination of the voids. It has been proven that this value depends on the type of adhesive, glue quantity and reactivity. The highest values of the void ratio achieve the PUR (17.26%) adhesives, then PVAc (13.97%), RRF (6.88%), MF (1.78%) and EPI (0.03%). The ratio of the gaps increases with the higher joint thickness. A too high proportion of voids may weaken the adhesive joint. Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-01-01 (johcin)