Project: New aspects on the strength behaviour of thermally modified wood towards structural applications
The project aims at exploring fundamentals related to the strength behaviour of thermally modified wood towards structural applications, to expand its uses.
This project was concluded in December 2019.
Project information
Project manager
Stergios Adamopoulos
Other project members
Joran van Blokland, Girma Kifetew and Jan Oscarsson, Linnaeus University
Geoffrey Daniel, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Financier
The Swedish Research Council Formas (Formas annual open call 2015)
Timetable
1 Jan 2016-31 Dec 2019
Subject
Forestry and Wood Technology (Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Faculty of Technology)
More about the project
Thermal modification is an environmental friendly technology to improve the dimensional stability and biological durability of wood. At present, the use of thermally modified wood (TMW) is limited to non-structural applications, e.g. cladding, decking. TMW gives lower mechanical strength due to loss in mass by thermal degradation of the wood material, and is more sensitive towards crack initiation and propagation.
Nevertheless, there is a growing interest in using thermally modified timber for construction elements and previous results have shown that this potential exists. Therefore, the present project pursues the development of a multidisciplinary research in exploring the fundamentals of strength behaviour of TMW needed to expand its uses. Specifically, it will be studied the fracture characteristics, strain distribution around defects, creep, fatigue and long-term behaviour of mechanically loaded TMW to obtain reliable predictions of bending stiffness but also of its local variability and the effects of wood defects. By doing so, it is aimed to evaluate the possibility of developing a strength grading system of TMT, provide suggestions on its suitability for different structural uses, and give a feedback for adjustments of industrial production processes.
It is foreseen that the project results will be disseminated to the scientific and industrial community, and to the stakeholders of the wood and construction sectors.
The project is part of the research in the Forestry and Wood research group.