WOOD RESEARCH Volume 67, Number 5, 2022
Gang Zhu, HUI LI, Kunyong Kang, Xupeng Zhang, and Shuduan Deng

Influence of vacuum impregnation pressures on the nanomechanical characteristics and photocatalytic performance of nano TIO2-furfuryl alcohol/balsa wood-based composites

In this work, a nano TiO2-FA/balsa wood-based composites were successfully fabricated by mechanical stirring assisted vacuum impregnation method, and the influence of different impregnation pressures on the microstructure, nanomechanical characteristics and photocatalytic performance of obtained composites were investigated. Results show that the nano TiO2-FA compound modifier was impregnated in the tracheid and attached to the wood cell walls. SEM revealed that the size of TiO2 nanoparticles grow larger as the impregnation pressure increases, and the presence of TiO2 globules with some areas agglomerated on the wood cell wall surface. Compared with the unmodified wood, the elastic modulus of cell walls for nano TiO2-FA/balsa wood composites prepared under 0.45 MPa significantly increased by 160.5%, and the hardness improved from 0.36 ± 0.04 GPa to 0.84 ± 0.08 GPa. Furthermore, the UV-Vis showed that the composite exhibited a high removal rate of methylene blue (10 mg.L-1), up to 88.74% within 240 min.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 62, Number 5, 2017
Kaimeng Xu, Kunyong Kang, Can Liu, Yuanbo Huang, Gang Zhu, Zhifeng Zheng, and Wenlun Li

The effects of expoxidized soybean oil on the mechanical, water absorption thermal stability and melting processing properties of wood plastic composites

To promote the environmentally friendly properties of wood plastic composites (WPC) fabricated via a polyvinyl chloride resin matrix, the effects of different amounts (0, 5, 15, 25, and 35 phr) of expoxidized soybean oil (ESO) on mechanical strengths, thermal stability, melting processing properties, and water absorption of the composite samples were studied. The results show that the tensile strength of WPC decreased. However, the elongation at break, water absorption and thickness swelling rates increased, especially for ESO addition amounts beyond 15 phr. The flexural strength and modulus of WPC followed an upward trend initially (at 5 phr ESO), then switching to a downward trend. The initial thermal stability at the first thermal decomposition stage and the melting processing temperature of the composites ewere effectively improved with the increase of ESO level. Compared to the samples without added ESO, the maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax1 and Tmax2) values of the composites increased by 31°C and 8°C, respectively, while the melting processing temperature of the composites significantly decreased by 24°C corresponding to an added level of 35 phr. In summary, the WPC samples with 5-15 phr ESO addition not only effectively retained their the mechanical strengths and water absorption stability, but also improved their the thermal stability and melting processing properties.