Compressive deformation of wood impregnated with low molecular weight phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin II: effects of processing parameters

To obtain high-strength phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin-impregnated compressed wood at low pressing pressure, the effects of resin content, preheating temperature, pressing temperature, and pressing speed on the compressive deformation of oven-dried low molecular weight PF resin-impregnated wood was investigated. With an increase of PF resin content, the Young’s modulus of the cell wall perpendicular to the fiber direction decreases, and collapse-initiating pressure decreases linearly with the Young’s modulus. This indicates that the occurrence of cell wall collapse is strain-dependent. By increasing preheating temperatures, the collapse-initiating pressure increases due to the increment of the Young’s modulus of the cell wall. An increase in pressing temperature results in the thermal softening of the cell wall and causes collapse at a lower pressure. The wood is compressed effectively despite accelerated resin curing. The pressing speed significantly affects the viscoelastic deformation of the cell wall and the wood is well deformed with decreasing pressing speed, although the differences in density and mechanical properties are relatively small after a pressure-holding period of 30 min. In all the parameters examined in this study, the Young’s modulus and bending strength increase with increasing density.