Evaluation of Decay Resistance for the Larch Wood Heat-treated with Superheated Steam

IRG/WP 22-40956

Y Park, S-M Yoon, H Kim, W-J Hwang

Heat-treatment of wood is a process that involves applying heat ranging 160–260°C to improve its physico-mechanical properties and resistance against wood rot fungi. The level of the changes in the wood properties by heat-treatment differs depending on the temperature and duration of heat-treatment, as well as the types of heat transfer media used for heat-treatment. The heat-treatment on wood with superheated steam offers superior heat-treatment effects to the existing hot air treatment process under the same temperature and duration as the former promotes the thermal hydrolysis process by steam at high temperature and high pressure. In this study, decay resistance of larch wood which has been heat-treated with superheated steam was evaluated on the two methods. One was the laboratory test of natural decay resistance against wood rot fungi, and the other was the field decay test against wood rot fungi as well as various insects including termites. On the both tests, the decay resistance was significantly improved by heat-treatment. It is thought that the chemical structural change of the wood cell wall had a negative effect on the fungi or insects. However, further studies are needed to determine whether it will lead to the same results for all heat treatment methods and whether it will be maintained in the long term.


Keywords: heat-treatment, thermal modification, superheated steam, decay resistance, wood rot fungi, termite

Conference: 22-05-29/06-02 Bled, Slovenia


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