Study on the Change of Physical and Anatomical Properties in the Pine Wood by Accelerated Weathering Test

촉진열화실험에 의한 소나무의 물성 및 조직 변화에 대한 연구

The domestic pine was used to investigate the change of specific gravity, moisture contents, color and anatomical structure by accelerated weathering test (AWT). According to visual inspection, a few knot separation and looseness as well as considerable surface discoloration was found out. However, the crack and split of surface texture have been never occurred till the last step of AWT. On the whole, as the time of accelerated weathering test has increased, the specific gravity has decreased. Finally, after the 9th week of AWT, the specific gravity was 0.38 that reached to 82% compared to the control specimen. In case of moisture content (MC), it showed rising trend in its early stages, however, after 3th week of AWT it have displayed steady state. A deterioration of cell-wall components was not remarkably observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), however the ray fractures of AWT specimen were observed more than those of control specimen. The full fracture of epithelial cell around resin canal was observed by optical microscope. The fracture of ray of 2th cycle AWT specimen was first, followed by 1th week and control group. A distortion of tracheid for early spring wood and fracture of epithelial cell were generally observed by a similar level, regardless of duration time of AWT. Therefore, it is obvious that increasing duration time of AWT does not affect the deterioration of micro-structure for wood members from this study. Although a considerable change of anatomical properties was not found, there is a need of further research to understand how will the changes of specific gravity and MC on the physical properties of wood member.