• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.470-477
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• 2015

This study was carried out to investigate the change of dimensional stability of thermally compressed Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.) wood by post heat treatment. Specific gravity of compressed wood was notably increased with thermal compression. In the compression set 50%, compressed Korean pine showed a specific gravity of 0.84. The amount of water absorption and swelling of thermally compressed Korean pine decreased with increasing temperature and time of the heat treatment. Set recovery also decreased with increasing temperature and time of heat treatment. Thermally compressed Korean pine that heat-treated in $120^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours showed a set recovery of 3.8%, whereas non-treated group showed 11.5%. Therefore, it was confirmed that the thermal treatment was a very effective method for the dimensional stability of the heat compressed wood.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2013

Fast-grown wood generally contains a high proportion of juvenile wood that results in inferior dimensional stability and durability against biological deteriorations. In the present research, the Acacia mangium wood from plantation forests in Vietnam was treated with high temperature in air. The effects of heat treatment on physical properties of Acacia mangium wood, including mass loss (ML), water absorption (WA), water-repellent effectiveness (WRE) and anti-swelling efficiency (ASE) were examined. The results showed that the dimensional stability and the water-repellent effectiveness are increased by about 15-46% and 8-18%, respectively. However, the mass and dimension of wood are decreased. The results also indicated that both treatment temperature and treatment duration significantly affect the wood properties of Acacia mangium. It is thus concluded that heat treatment demonstrates an interesting potential to improve the wood quality of Acacia mangium for solid timber products. This technology provides an environmentally safe method of protecting sustainable common woods to give a new generation of value-added biomaterials with increased stability without the use of toxic chemicals.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.780-790
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• 2020

In this study, the cell-wall microstructure and anti-swelling effectiveness (ASE) of heat-treated larch wood were evaluated and the correlation between them was analyzed. For this purpose, some larch lumbers were heat-treated for 12, 18, and 24 hours at temperatures of 190℃ and 220℃. By observing the scanning electron microscopy cross-sectional image of the heat-treated larch, it was confirmed that the shape of heat-treated wood cell changed, the cut-section of the wood cell wall was rough, and the intercellular space has become wide as the intercellular bonds had broken because of heat-treatment. In addition, the evaluation of the swelling for each treatment condition revealed that, as the heat-treatment temperature and duration increased, the amount of absorbed water and swelling decreased and the ASE increased. The decrease in the amount of absorbed water is thought to be affected by the chemical change in the cell wall by heat-treatment. On the contrary, the decrease in the swelling and the increase in the ASE are thought to be due to a combination of chemical changes and physical changes such as structural changes in the cell wall.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.567-578
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• 2019

A common problem with fast-growing hardwoods is dimensional instability that limits use of their wood. In this study, we investigated the effects of pre-drying methods, temperatures, and heating duration on the specific gravity, water absorption, and dimensional stability of three tropical fast-growing hardwoods, jabon (Neolamarckia cadamba Roxb.), sengon (Falcataria moluccana Miq.), and mangium (Acacia mangium Willd.). Wood samples were pre-dried by two methods (fan and oven at $40^{\circ}C$), and heat treatments were performed at three temperatures (120, 150, and $180^{\circ}C$) for two different time periods (2 and 6 hours). The specific gravity, water absorption, dimensional stability, and structural changes of the samples were evaluated. The results revealed that heat treatments slightly reduced the specific gravity of all three wood species. In addition, the heat treatments reduced water absorption and significantly improved dimensional stability of the samples. Oven pre-drying followed by heat treatment at $180^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours resulted in good physical improvement of jabon and sengon wood. Fan pre-drying followed by heat treatment at $180^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours improved the physical properties of mangium wood. The heat treatment shows a promising technique for improving the physical characteristic of fast growing hardwoods.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.213-222
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• 2017

Heat treatment of wood is an attractive alternative environmentally-friendly treatment to add value of less valuable woods by improving color, dimensional stability, and natural durability. To improve the color properties of Korean white pine (Pinus koraiensis) and royal paulownia (Pauwlonia tomentosa), we treated the woods at $160^{\circ}C$, $180^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, and $220^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. Color change after heat treatment was evaluated using the CIE-Lab color system and survey was conducted to determine the consumer preferences towards color of heat-treated wood. Lightness ($L^*$) decreased with increasing temperature and the higher degree of change was obtained in royal paulownia. The red/green chromaticity ($a^*$) in both wood decreased after heat treatment at $160^{\circ}C$, and constantly increased after heat treatment at $180^{\circ}C$ to $220^{\circ}C$. Yellow/blue chromaticity ($b^*$) in Korean white pine tended to increase after heat treatment at $160^{\circ}C$, then decreased gradually afterwards. In royal paulownia, $b^*$ values linearly increased with increasing temperature. Overall color change (${\Delta}E^*$) increased with increasing temperature with higher degree obtained in royal paulownia. Samples with the clamps in both wood species showed lower degree of the change in $L^*$, $a^*$, b and ${\Delta}E^*$. The results of the consumer preferences test showed that the darker colors of heat-treated woods were more preferred by consumers compared to the lighter colors of untreated woods. Consequently, heat treatment could enhance the color properties of Korean white pine and royal paulownia woods for value added products.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.761-769
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• 2019

In modern societies, people spend most of their time indoors and the temperature and humidity controlled by electrical appliances have a considerable effect on their emotions and health. However, improper operation of the artificial facilities frequently creates substances that are harmful to our body. The importance of controlling the natural humidity of interior materials has therefore attracted significant attention. This study was aimed at quantifying the hygroscopic property of some interior finishing wooden materials. Dried and heat-treated yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) lumbers, oriented strand board, and plywood were selected for this experiment. The moisture adsorption and desorption rates of wooden materials were measured (ISO 24353). Furthermore, the effects of morphological, physical and chemical factors, such as surface microstructure, roughness, and functional groups, on the hygroscopicity were evaluated. The results of this study should contribute to improved accuracy of hygroscopic-property assessments performed on wooden interior materials.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.438-445
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• 2015

Among several thermal wood modification methods German oil heating technology was applied to Korean pine specimens by heat treatment at $180^{\circ}C$ and $200^{\circ}C$. In addition the matched specimens were heat-treated by Thermowood method. The heat-treated specimens were planed and their colors were measured with a colorimeter at 1 mm and 4 mm below the surfaces. The average lightness index (L*) of Oil-180 specimens was the largest followed by Oil-200 and Tmo-200 specimens. The average redness indexes (a*) of all specimens were increased by heat treatment, while the average yellowness indexes (b*) were variable. The average color differences (${\Delta}E*$) of Oil-200 and Tmo-200 specimens were above 30.0, while that of Oil-180 specimens was only 18.4. It can be concluded that the colors of the heat-teated specimens were uniformly changed because their average color difference indexes (${\Delta}E*$) between the inner layers were below 6.0.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2010

Heat treatment was performed to improve sound absorption properties for four tree species; Tulip tree, Korean Paulownia, Red pine and Costata birch, at temperature of $175^{\circ}C$ and $200^{\circ}C$under vacuum condition. Sound absorption properties of two kinds of boards, which were in radial and tangential sections, were measured under a frequency range of 100 to 3200 Hz by the two microphone transfer function method. It was found that sound absorption properties were increased by heat treatment and the efficiency was higher at $200^{\circ}C$ than that at $175^{\circ}C$. Even Costata birch had a little effect on low temperature of $175^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$ heat treatment for sound absorption property, the efficiencies of sound absorption were 14, 19%, respectively. The efficiencies of sound absorption ranged 22 to 120% for heat-treated Tulip tree, Korean Paulownia.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.19 no.2 s.58
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• pp.105-110
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• 2005

We tested the char characteristics of fire retardant treated Douglas fir at each of five constant external irradiance levels $(10,\;15,\;20,\;25\;및\;35kW/m^2)$. A Cone heater was used to expose the wood specimens to the heat flux. The size of specimens is 100- by 100- by 50-mm and the kinds of specimens are non-treated wood(N) and treated wood(F2 and f4) by water soluble fire retardants. The water-soluble fire retardants were made from mixture of aqueous solutions of monoammonium phosphate, sodium borate and zinc borate, and those are used for immersion of Douglas fir. In result of test, char fraction of fire retardant treated Douglas fir showed a considerably low char fraction than it of non-treated wood irrespective of increase of external heat flux. And char fractions has low levels with increase of fire retardant content. Burning rate of non-treated wood(N) was showed a relatively high burning rate than it of fire retardant treated wood(F2 and F4). And difference of burning rate shown more rapidly in high external irradiance than low external irradiance. When the external heat flux is $35kW/m^2$, average char rate of non-treated wood is rapidly about twice than fire retardant treated wood. Water-soluble fire retardants mixed in this study find out it has fire suppression and adiabatic effect by char layer from results of char fraction, burning rate, and char depth and rate.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.9-18
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• 2017

In this study, we measured that fire characteristics of four wood species using indoor finish materials. Wooden specimens were treated with fire retardant chemicals such as diammonium phosphate and potassium carbonate. The wooden specimens are Larix kaempferi, Pinus koraiensis, Cryptomeria japonica, and Chamaecyparis obtusa, which are used for indoor finish. The heat release rate (HRR) values of fire retardant treated woods were confirmed lower than that of untreated woods. For specific details, the HRR values of vacuum impregnated specimens for Pinus koraiensis and Cryptomeria japonica were measured lower than coatings. However, those of Larix kaempferi and Chamaecyparis obtusa showed the opposite effect to it. Total heat release rate values of all wooden specimens, vacuum impregnated were lower than coated specimens.