Industrial Crops and Products 34 (2011) 1455–1457

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Industrial Crops and Products

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop

Wettability and roughness characteristics of modified wood boards using a

hot-press
Oner Unsal a , Zeki Candan a , Suleyman Korkut b,∗
a
Department of Forest Products Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University, 34473 Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey
b
Department of Forest Products Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Duzce University, 81620 Duzce, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the thermal modification process by hot-press
Received 8 March 2011 on the wettability and surface roughness characteristics of the eucalyptus wood boards. The roughness
Accepted 29 April 2011 measurements, average roughness (Ra ), and maximum roughness (Rmax ) were taken both parallel and per-
Available online 28 May 2011
pendicular to the grain using a fine stylus tracing technique. Contact angle measurements were obtained
using a goniometer system connected to a digital camera and computer system. The results showed that
Keywords:
surface roughness values of the modified wood boards using a hot-press significantly decreased with
Thermal modification
increasing press pressure and with decreasing temperature. The contact angle measurements indicated
Wettability
Contact angle
that the thermal modification had a significant influence on the surface wettability of the wood boards.
Surface roughness Statistical analyses showed significant differences in the surface roughness and contact angle values of
Wood boards the wood boards following thermal modification. The results acquired in this work provide important
information for future research and utilization of the thermally modified wood boards.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 2004; Aydin et al., 2006; Ayrilmis et al., 2009; Dundar

et al., 2008; Unsal et al., 2010; Candan et al., submitted for
Wood resources from plantations are important to the forest publication).
products industry. The Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn. (Turkish Wettability is an essential property to wood adhesion. Wet-
river red gum), grown in a plantation in Mersin, Turkey, has several tability of wood materials is usually evaluated with contact
advantageous including high growth rate and low price. However, angle, which provides an adverse measure of wettability. Wet-
there are still several undesired properties such as low dimen- ting quality of wood is influenced by many factors including
sional stability, and several drying problems which limit its uses. macroscopic characteristics (e.g., porosity, surface roughness,
Thermal modification is used to improve dimensional stability and wood surface polarity, pH value, moisture content, grain ori-
durability of wood and wood-based materials (Burmester, 1973; entation, and extractives), surface quality of wood (e.g., virgin,
Giebeler, 1983). Different thermal modification techniques applied aging, and contamination), processing temperature, and prop-
to wood based materials include the Plato Process, Retification Pro- erties of adhesives (e.g., acidity, rheology, and viscosity) (Lu,
cess, Boise Perdure, Oil-Heat Treatment Process, and Thermowood 2003).
Process (Militz, 2002). Thermally compressing technique is one The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the
the above-mentioned procedures. It is called Staypak and Compreg thermal modification process using hot-press on the wettabil-
(Seborg et al., 1945; Stamm and Haris, 1953; Stamm, 1964). ity and surface roughness characteristics of the eucalyptus wood
Anatomical, physical, mechanical, and durability properties boards.
of thermally compressed wood materials have been studied
in previous studies (Wang and Cooper, 2004, 2005; Unsal
and Candan, 2007, 2008; Unsal et al., 2008, 2009; Candan
et al., 2010; Dogu et al., 2010). Wettability and surface 2. Materials and methods
roughness of wood and wood based materials were also
studied by researchers (Aydin and Colakoglu, 2002; Aydin, 2.1. Materials

Turkish River Gum (Eucalyptus camuldensis Dehn.) wood was

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 380 5421137; fax: +90 380 5421136. used in this work. The logs were obtained from Mersin, Turkey and
E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Korkut). cut into boards measuring 150 mm by 500 mm by 18 mm.

0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2011.04.024
1456 O. Unsal et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 34 (2011) 1455–1457

Table 1 deviation for each sample were calculated from 60 photo images. A
Experimental design of the thermal modification process.
total of 50 test samples, 10 samples for each treatment, were used
Modification Press pressure Press temperature Pressing duration for the CA measurements.
group (MPa) (◦ C) (min)

Control – – –
2.2.4. Statistical analyses
A 4 150 45
B 2 150 45 For the surface roughness and wettability, all multiple compar-
C 4 180 45 isons were first tested using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) at
D 2 180 45 P < 0.05. Significant differences between the mean values of treated
and untreated groups were determined using Duncan’s multiple
range test.
2.2. Methods

2.2.1. Thermal modification 3. Results and discussion

Thermal modification process was performed using a laboratory
type hot-press located in the Wood Composites Manufacturing Lab- The Ra// , Ra⊥, Rmax// , and Rmax⊥ values of the thermally modified
oratory at the Department of Forest Products Engineering, Istanbul wood boards at each exposure condition are shown in Table 2.
University. Experimental design of the wood boards is shown in It is evident from Table 2 that the surface roughness values of the
Table 1. For the wettability and surface roughness test the boards thermally modified wood boards using the hot-press significantly
were cut into test specimens with dimensions of 50 mm by 50 mm decreased with increasing press pressure and decreasing press
by thickness. The modified and control samples were conditioned temperature. All thermally compressed eucalyptus wood boards
at 20 ± 2 ◦ C and 65 ± 5% relative humidity (RH) in a climate chamber had lower surface roughness values than those of the untreated
for three weeks. boards. Decrement in the surface roughness increased with increas-
ing press pressure.
2.2.2. Determination of surface roughness Improvement in the surface smoothness with increasing press
Ten to 20 samples were tested from each modification group. pressure and decreasing press temperature could be explained
The measurements were performed both parallel and perpendic- by the result in a plasticization of the solid wood surfaces; an
ular to the grain. The points of roughness measurements were occurrence where temperatures above 160 ◦ C cause conversion of
randomly marked on the surface of test samples. A Mitutoyo SJ- lignin into a thermoplastic condition which increases density and
301 Surface Roughness Tester (Japan), stylus type profilometer, surface layer compaction. As a result, in the present study, the sur-
was employed for the surface roughness tests. Two roughness face characteristics of the eucalyptus wood boards were noticeably
parameters characterized by JIS B 0601 (2001) were measured enhanced. Solid wood with a rough surface requires more sanding,
to evaluate the surface characteristics of the thermally modified which not only wastes raw material by decreasing its thickness but
wood boards. These were average roughness (Ra ) and maximum also increases overall production cost. Therefore, it appears that
roughness (Rmax ), respectively. Roughness values were measured the thermal modification process by hot-press would be a poten-
with a sensitivity of 0.5 ␮m. Measuring speed, pin diameter and tial method to improve surface quality of the wood boards while
pin top angle of the tool were 5 mm/min, 4 ␮m and 90◦ , respec- minimizing the need for sanding.
tively. The length of tracing line (Lt ) was 4.0 mm and the cut-off In a previous study, Candan et al. (submitted for publication)
was  = 0.8 mm. obtained similar results for plywood panels. It was stated that the
surface roughness values of the plywood panels modified with
2.2.3. Determination of wettability both 150 ◦ C and 170 ◦ C were lower than those of the control pan-
Contact angle (CA) analysis was performed to evaluate the wet- els.
tability characteristics of the wood boards. The contact angle was As can be seen from Table 3, the CA values of the thermally
defined as the angle through the liquid phase formed between the modified wood boards using hot-press significantly increased with
surface of a solid and the line tangent to the droplet radius from increasing press temperature and decreased with increasing press
the point of contact with the solid. pressure. The results acquired in this study indicated that the wet-
CA values were obtained using a goniometer system connected tability property of the wood boards decreased with the thermal
with a digital camera and computer system (KSV Instrument, modification process.
Finland). The liquid employed for the measurements was 5 ␮L of The CA values were always greater in the case of the thermally
distilled water at 20 ◦ C with a surface tension of 72.80 mN/m. The compressed eucalyptus wood boards when compared to those
CA was determined for each image by digital image analysis soft- of untreated boards. This result might be explained by the oxy-
ware. The image was captured immediately after the droplet of gen:carbon (O/C) ratio and an inverse relationship to the C1/C2
distilled water was placed on the wood board surface, and then ratio due to the boards’ densification from the thermal compression
every 1 s for duration of 60 s. The mean CA value and the standard process.

Table 2
Surface roughness results of the thermally modified wood boards.

Groups Surface roughness (␮m)

Ra// Duncan’s Rmax// Duncan’s Ra⊥ Duncan’s Rmax⊥ Duncan’s

grouping grouping grouping grouping

Control 3.65 (1.65) abc 21.33 (6.44) a 6.01 (0.67) abcd 40.36 (7.43) a
A 1.44 (0.01) c 8.99 (2.61) b 2.22 (0.72) d 16.80 (3.07) e
B 3.31 (0.13) a 18.57 (5.34) ab 3.87 (0.01) bcd 25.76 (4.96) ce
C 2.99 (0.47) b 18.94 (6.04) ab 3.32 (0.31) cd 23.16 (3.94) d
D 3.60 (1.00) abc 21.21 (5.87) ab 5.80 (0.16) abcd 35.70 (4.98) bcde

Homogenous groups: letters in each column indicate groups that are statistically different according to Duncan’s multiple range test at P < 0.05. Comparisons were between
each control and its test.
 O. Unsal et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 34 (2011) 1455–1457 1457

Table 3 Aydin, I., 2004. Activation of wood surfaces for glue bonds by mechanical pre-
Contact angle results of the thermally modified boards. treatment and its effects on some properties of veneer surfaces and plywood
panels. Appl. Surf. Sci. 233, 268–274.
Groups Wettability Aydin, I., Colakoglu, G., Hiziroglu, S., 2006. Surface characteristics of spruce veneers
and shear strength of plywood as a function of log temperature in peeling pro-
CA (◦ ) Duncan’s grouping
cess. Int. J. Solids Struct. 43, 6140–6147.
Control 63.83 (6.66) d Ayrilmis, N., Dundar, T., Candan, Z., Akbulut, T., 2009. Wettability of fire retardant
A 77.21 (6.90) cd treated laminated veneer lumber (LVL) manufactured from veneers dried at
B 87.88 (4.47) bcd different temperatures. BioResources 4 (4), 1536–1544.
C 90.51 (5.03) acd Burmester, A., 1973. Effect of heat-pressure-treatment of semi-dry wood on its
D 94.56 (2.78) a dimensional stability. Holz Roh- Werkst. 31, 237–243.
Candan, Z., Hiziroglu, S., McDonald, A.G., 2010. Surface quality of thermally com-
Homogenous groups: letters in each column indicate groups that are statistically pressed Douglas fir veneer. Mater. Des. 31, 3574–3577.
different according to Duncan’s multiple range test at P < 0.05. Comparisons were Candan, Z., Buyuksari, U., Unsal, O., Korkut, S. Wettability and surface roughness of
between each control and its test. thermally modified plywood panels. BioResources, submitted for publication.
Dogu, D., Tirak, K., Candan, Z., Unsal, O., 2010. Anatomical investigation of thermally
compressed wood panels. BioResources 5 (4), 2640–2663.
Among the different reasons proposed to explain wettability Dundar, T., Ayrilmis, N., Candan, Z., 2008. Evaluation of surface roughness of lami-
change, the plasticization of lignin leading to a reorganization of nated veneer lumber (LVL) made from beech veneers treated with various fire
retardants and dried at different temperatures. Forest Prod. J. 58 (1/2), 71–76.
the lignocellulosic polymeric components of wood seems to be Giebeler, E., 1983. Dimensional stabilization of wood by moisture-heat-pressure-
the more probable explanation. All these results showed that high treatment. Holz Roh- Werkst. 41, 87–94.
temperatures, generally used for wood heat treatment, are not nec- Hakkou, M., Pétrissans, M., Zoulalian, A., Gérardin, P., 2005. Investigation of wood
wettability changes during heat treatment on the basis of chemical analysis.
essary to modify its hydrophilic properties, which can be modified Polym. Degrad. Stab. 89 (1), 1–5.
at lower temperatures. This change of wettability could have sig- JIS B 0601, 2001. Geometrical Product Specification (GPS) – Surface Texture: Profile
nificant consequences on the use of the material, in particular for Method – Terms, Definitions and Surface Texture Parameters. Japanese Indus-
trial Standard.
the adhesion of paints and coatings (Hakkou et al., 2005). Lu, Z., 2003. Chemical Coupling in Wood–Polymer Composites. Ph.D. Thesis,
The findings obtained in this study were in agreement with Louisiana State University, Agricultural and Mechanical College.
a previous study of thermally modified oriented strandboard by Militz, H., 2002. Thermal treatment of wood: European processes and their back-
ground. IRG/WP 02-40241.
Unsal et al. (2010). It was reported that the thermally modified
Seborg, R.M., Millett, M.A., Stamm, A.J., 1945. Heat-stabilized compressed wood
panels had greater contact angle values than those of the unmod- (Staypak). Mech. Eng. 67, 25–31.
ified panels. It was concluded that this modification resulted in a Stamm, A.J., 1964. Wood and Cellulose Science. Ronald Press, NY, USA.
Stamm, A.J., Haris, E.E., 1953. Chemical Processing of Wood. Chemical Publishing
relatively poor wettability.
Co., Inc., NY, USA.
Unsal, O., Candan, Z., 2007. Effects of press pressure and temperature on the moisture
4. Conclusions content, vertical density profile and Janka hardness of pine wood panels. In:
Proceedings of 10th International IUFRO Division – 5, Wood Drying Conference
, Orono, ME, USA, August 26–30.
The thermal modification process is a significant factor that Unsal, O., Candan, Z., 2008. Moisture content, vertical density profile and Janka hard-
influences the surface roughness and wettability of wood boards. ness of thermally compressed pine wood panels as a function of press pressure
Increasing the severity of thermal modification resulted in and temperature. Drying Technol. 26, 1165–1169.
Unsal, O., Kartal, S.N., Candan, Z., Arango, R.A., Clausen, C.A., Green, F., 2008. Pre-
smoother surfaces. The wettability properties of the treated boards liminary investigation of biological resistance, water absorption and swelling
were lower than those of the untreated boards. The improved of thermally compressed pine wood panels. In: IRG/WP 39th Annual Meeting ,
characteristics of the thermally modified wood boards offer many Istanbul, Turkey, May 25–29, 11 p.
Unsal, O., Kartal, S.N., Candan, Z., Arango, R.A., Clausen, C.A., Green, F., 2009. Decay
potential and attractive new opportunities to wood products indus- and termite resistance, water absorption and swelling of thermally compressed
try. wood panels. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegrad. 63 (5), 548–552.
Unsal, O., Candan, Z., Buyuksari, U., Korkut, S., Babiak, M., 2010. Effects of ther-
mal modification on surface characteristics of OSB panels. Wood Res. 55 (4),
References 51–57.
Wang, J., Cooper, P.A., 2004. Vertical density profiles in thermally compressed bal-
Aydin, I., Colakoglu, G., 2002. The effects of veneer drying temperature on wetta- sam fir wood. Forest Prod. J. 55 (5), 65–68.
bility, surface roughness and some properties of plywood. In: Proceedings of Wang, J., Cooper, P.A., 2005. Effect of grain orientation and surface wetting on vertical
the Sixth Panel Products Symposium , Landudno, Wales, UK, 9–11 October, pp. density profiles of thermally compressed fir and spruce. Holz Roh- Werkst. 63,
60–70. 397–402.