Characterization of hot-pressed poplar wood with chemical pretreatment

The aim of this research is to study the characterization of modified poplar wood. A chemical impregnation was utilized before the poplar wood was dried and compressed in a multilayer hot-press drying kiln. The results showed that with the compression rate of 31.7%, the basic density, the over dried density and air-dried density of treated wood increased 25%, 75% and 74%, respectively. The bending strength and compressive strength parallel to grain improved 72% and 47%. The water uptake rate of treated wood was lower compared with the untreated wood. The results of XRD curves indicated that the degree of crystallinity for treated wood increased from 37.88% to 39.01%. The FT-IR analysis showed that the intensity of hydroxyl (-OH) absorption decreased, which due to the reaction between the wood hydroxyl and the impegnated chemicals. The morphologic models of the poplar wood were examined by SEM.