• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.602-615
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• 2021

Red jabon wood is a potential fast-growing species for veneer, furniture, and many other wood products, but its durability is very low. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of castor bean oil and heating on boron leaching, dimensional stability, and resistance to decay fungi in treated jabon wood. Red jabon wood was preserved with boron solutions containing 5% boron (boric acid, borax, or borax-boric acid). Following that, castor bean oil impregnation and heating were used as posttreatments. Furthermore, all the wood samples were tested in terms of leaching, dimensional stability, and resistance against Schizophyllum commune and Fomitopsis palustris fungi. This study discovered that boron compounds, castor bean oil, and heating treatments influenced the leaching, dimensional stability, and resistance of red jabon wood to decay fungi. The double impregnation of boric acid or borax and castor bean oil, followed by heating at 160℃, significantly reduced water absorption and leaching while increasing the dimensional stability and resistance of red jabon wood against the two tested decay fungi.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.566-577
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• 2009

The modification of wood color occurs rapidly during the service period at indoor. It is crucial to investigate the characteristics of color change, chemical and microscopical modification of wood at indoor. Wood products made of Japanese cedar at different years were used for this work. The tests were performed in order to evaluate the degree of color change of wood surface, breakpoint of brightness from surface to inside of wood, chemical analysis with FT-IR, and microscopical characteristics using the LM and TEM. Surface color of cedar wood stored indoor were rapidly changed at early stage, particularly ${\Delta}a$ (yellow), and ${\Delta}b$ (red) values were steeply decreased for one year old indoor wood, ${\Delta}L$ (white) value was dropped until 5 years old indoor wood compared with control sample. Decrease of peaks related to polysaccharide and lignin was noticed, especially, lignin was severely degraded. Although degradation of cell wall limited only to surface layers of indoor wood, degradation pattern of indoor wood showed similar degradation pattern to natural weathering of wood during outdoor weathering or wood behavior under artificial UV irradiation.

• 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.48 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2020

Fungi are wood-decaying organisms, and this is an important trait that should be considered in wood utilization. When fungi attack wood, it decreases the quality of the wood. The use of metal screws has become an important part of woodworking. The ability of fungi to decay wood and damage metal screws that are embedded into wood is varied. In this study, eight fungal species were evaluated with respect to their ability to decay Parashorea smythiesii and P. tomentella wood. In addition, the effect of fungi on corroding metal screws was determined using the Kolle flask method. The evaluation showed that the fungal species Schizophyllum commune, Pycnoporus sanguineus, and Polyporus arcularius were highly capable of decaying Parashorea spp. woods. The greatest wood weight loss occurred with the heartwood of P. tomentella exposed to S. commune. Based on the classification of wood resistance against fungal attack, the two Parashorea spp. were classified as moderately resistant woods (class III). Schizophyllum commune was classified as highly capable of decaying wood that was embedded with metal screws and was highly capable of corroding metal screws placed in fungi-culture media. The greatest weight of rust powder formed because of screw corrosion was obtained from screw-embedded wood exposed to S. commune. Additionally, the most severe corrosion of metal screws that were embedded into woods was caused by the activities of P. arcularius. Moreover, the average weight loss of screw-embedded wood was greater than that of unscrewed wood.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.187-200
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• 2013

Current research trends of non-copper wood preservatives for enhancing durability was reviewed; as a follow-up of the review in 2012 on copper-based wood preservatives. Main environmental friendly non-copper wood preservatives studied by many scientists were boron-based compounds, synthetic compounds from natural products, and pyrethroids family of chemicals, etc. The critical issue regarding treated woods with boron-based compounds used outdoors was the leaching of boron. Many studies mainly focused on boron fixation improvement using variety of polymers. Moreover, the studies showed notable increases in attempts to use natural products used commonly in the medical fields as wood preservatives as well as outdoor use of chemical modified such as acetylated wood developed in purpose of stabilizing dimension.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.643-657
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• 2021

In order to establish a strategy for revitalizing wood culture, a survey was conducted on the level of public awareness of wood culture and the experience of wood cultural resources by type. According to the survey, 31.4% of respondents had the images of cultural heritage such as palaces, temples, Hanoks, and cultural assets for wood cultural resources. The main reasons for having no image of wood cultural resources were the ambiguous concept and lack of interest in wood cultural resources. The importance of wood cultural resources classified into seven categories was in the order of cultural heritage, architecture of wood, cultural facilities, cultural festivals, wood products, cultural education, cultural contents. In the survey on the necessity and sufficiency of information on wood cultural resources, 46.7% of respondents needed more information to experience of wood cultural resources, while 64.8% of them had lacked information about wood cultural resources. More than half of the respondents wanted to experience of wood culture within next year, but about 20% of respondents participated in seven kinds of wood cultural resources, except wood products used in daily life. Based on these results, a systematic strategy should be developed to expand the opportunity for the public to experience of wood cultural resources and to promote them to public.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.828-835
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• 2017

Airtightness of buildings is one of critical aspects of its energy performance. To build up references of airtightness of wooden houses built in Korea, blower door tests have been carried out in 42 houses since 2006. Causes of air leakage were investigated recently. The average value of air change rate was $3.7h^{-1}$ for light frame house and $5.5h^{-1}$ for post-beam construction at ACH50 (air change per hour at 50 Pa air pressure difference). Foam type insulation was more advantageous in ensuring building airtightness than glass fiber batt. Airtightness of wooden houses which were constructed after 2010 was improved to have less than $1.5h^{-1}$ of ACH50, threshold for application of artificial air change. The average air change rate of CLT (cross laminated timber) houses showed the lowest value, $1.1h^{-1}$, among the tested structures.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.617-632
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• 2019

This study aimed to investigate the anatomical structure and fiber quality of four lesser-used wood species namely Benuang (O. sumatrana), Duabanga (D. moluccana), Pisang Merah (H. hellwigii), and Terap (A. odoratissimus). This study evaluated its suitability for raw material in pulp and paper manufacturing. The anatomical structure was observed macro- and microscopically. Macroscopic structures were observed directly to the wood samples, while microscopic characteristics were observed through microtome specimens. Fiber dimension was measured through macerated specimens and fiber quality was analyzed following the Rachman and Siagian's method. Results showed that these four timber species have similarity in the indistinct growth ring, diffuse porous in a radial pattern, rounded solitary vessel outline, 1 to 3 cells of ray width, deposits within the rays, fiber length, and cell wall thickness. Differences were found on vessel diameter, vessel grouping, vessel frequency, tyloses existence, type of axial parenchyma, and ray height. Based on fiber length and its derived values, the wood fibers of all species studied are suitable for pulp and paper manufacturing. They belong to the II quality class. The produced pulp and paper would have good quality, especially in tensile, folding, and tear strength. To promote their utilization, silviculture aspect of these four species has to be well understood.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2023

Densification is an effective method for improving the physical and mechanical properties of low-density wood. However, the set-recovery of dimensions was found to be the problem of densified wood due to low fixation during the densification process. Alkali pretreatment before densification is thought to be a modification process to improve the dimensional stability of densified wood. In this research, the wood samples used were boiled in a 1.25 N sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution at different times, followed by densification for 5 h at 100℃. The alkali pretreatment for 1, 3, and 5 h of boiling increased the dimensional stability of densified woods and anti-swelling efficiency values were 8.52%, 63.24%, and 48.94%, respectively. The boiling of wood in NaOH solution decreased the holocellulose content, as well as lignin to a lesser degree, and a lower crystallinity index was observed. The lower hydroxyl groups and a higher proportion of lignin in treated samples seem to have contributed to the high dimensional stability detected.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.559-565
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• 2013

This study evaluated the ability of white and brown rot fungi to decompose fire retardant-treated wood by measuring mass loss. Anti efficacy of FRT against sapstain and mold fungi was evaluated. Wood was treated with liquid sodium silicate and boric acid, ammonium borate, di-ammonium phosphate. Retardant treated wood was then subjected to fungal decay resistance tests performed according to KS standard method using a brown-rot fungus, Fomitopsis palustris and white rot fungus Trametes versicolor. Aspergillus niger, Penicillium funiculosum, Rhizopus nigricans, Aureobasidium pullulans, Tricoderma virede fungi were used anti-sapstain and mold test. Boron and phosphorus chemicals used in this study increased the resistance of fire retardant treated wood against both fungal attack. Anti mold and sapstain efficacy of the fire retardant treated wood was excellent but there were difference depend on mold. After the liquid sodium silicate treatment, the second chemical treatment process could lead chemical fixation into wood, which effects decay resistance.