Industrial Crops and Products 45 (2013) 461464

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Industrial Crops and Products

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

Effect of thermal modication by hot pressing on performance properties

of paulownia wood boards
Zeki Candan a , Suleyman Korkut b, , Oner Unsal a
a
Istanbul University, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Products Engineering, Sariyer, 34473 Istanbul, Turkey
b
Duzce University, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Products Engineering, 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 goal of this study was to investigate the effects of thermal modication by hot-pressing on the
Received 3 October 2012 performance properties of paulownia wood boards. The boards were thermally modied by hot-pressing
Received in revised form method under different pressure and temperature levels. As two boards for each modication group plus
15 December 2012
two for unmodied, totally 10 experimental wood boards were prepared in this study. Main density,
Accepted 18 December 2012
vertical density prole (VDP), thickness swell (TS), water absorption (WA), moisture content (MC), and
hardness tests were carried out to evaluate the performance properties of the thermally modied or
Keywords:
unmodied wood boards. The results obtained in this study indicated that surface density of the boards
Thermal modication
Performance properties
increased with increasing press pressure. The thermal modication negatively affected the TS and WA
Vertical density prole values of the boards. Hardness values of the wood boards were signicantly improved by the thermal
Paulownia wood boards modication. The results of this research revealed that the thermally compressing method could be
Hot pressing used to improve end-use properties of low-density wood materials made from fast-growing tree species
such as paulownia, poplar, eucalyptus etc. Thus low-value wood materials could be converted to value-
added products. In addition, sustainable management of natural resources could be achieved by using
the thermal modication method.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 1983; Korkut and Kocaefe, 2009). Thermally compressing method

An efcient utilization of natural forest resources is of a great
importance nowadays because of increasing of public awareness.
Paulownia (Paulownia spp.) is a fast-growing tree species and its
wood is low-density and low-price. It is available as plantation
forests in Turkey. On the other hand, some of its properties such
as low-strength, low-density, and low-hardness limit its end-use
area. In addition, some problems occur during its drying pro-
cess.
It is well known that there are various thermal modication
methods in the world and some of those methods have been reg-
istered such as Thermowood (Finland), Perdure (France), Plato
(Netherlands), and Menz Holz (Germany) (Tjeerdsma, 2006). All
these methods have some major differences such as process con-
ditions, wet or dry process, steering schedules, process steps,
atmosphere (oxygen or nitrogen), steaming, use of oil (Militz,
2002). Main objective of the thermal modication methods are
to improve dimensional stability, durability, equilibrium moisture
content, permeability, surface quality (Burmester, 1973; Giebeler,
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 380 5421137; fax: +90 380 5421136.
E-mail addresses: suleymankorkut@hotmail.com,
suleymankorkut@duzce.edu.tr (S. Korkut).
is also used to modify wood materials. There are several thermally
compressed wood products such as Staypak (Seborg et al., 1945)
and Compreg (Stamm, 1964; Stamm and Haris, 1953). Viscoelas-
tic thermal compression (VTC) process was developed to improve
properties of wood. The VTC process is similar to other densication
methods for wood materials. Thin wood materials could be mod-
ied by dynamic temperature and steam pressure in this method
(Kamke et al., 2000; Kamke, 2006). Kamke and Rathi (2011) devel-
oped an apparatus for producing a densied wood product using a
dynamic pressure and temperature process.
The effects of grain orientation and surface plasticizing methods
on the vertical density prole of thermally compressed balsam r
and spruce and the effects of hot press closing rate, wood initial
moisture content, and sample size on the vertical density prole
of thermally compressed r wood were examined by Wang and
Cooper (2004) and Wang and Cooper (2005). Density distribution
through the thickness of wood composite panels is called as ver-
tical density prole (Candan, 2007; Wang et al., 2004). Solid wood
boards modied by hot-pressing have different vertical density
proles than those of the wood composite panels because of their
structural properties. Welzbacher et al. (2008) investigated the
effects of the thermo-mechanical densication and oil-heat treat-
ment process on dimensional stability and biological durability of
spruce wood.

0926-6690/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2012.12.024
462 Z. Candan et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 45 (2013) 461464
Table 1
Experimental design of the thermal modication process.
Modication groups Temperature Press pressure Pressing
( C) (bar) time (min)
Control
A 150 20 45
B 150 22.5 45
C 170 20 45
D 170 22.5 45
Previous studies investigated surface characteristics (Candan
et al., 2010; Unsal et al., 2011a), physical and mechanical properties
(Candan et al., submitted for publication; Kutnar et al., 2008; Unsal
and Candan, 2007, 2008; Unsal et al., 2011b; Wang and Cooper,
2004, 2005; Welzbacher et al., 2008), morphological properties
(Dogu et al., 2010; Hizal et al., 2012; Kutnar et al., 2009), biological
durability (Kutnar et al., 2011; Unsal et al., 2008, 2009; Welzbacher
et al., 2008), and color characteristics (Atik et al., in press) of ther-
mally modied wood materials.
There is limited data available in the literature examining the
effects of the thermal modication by hot-pressing method on the
performance properties of paulownia wood boards. The objective of
this present study was to evaluate the effect of hot-pressing process
conditions on the properties of paulownia (Paulownia spp.) wood
boards.
2. Materials and methods
Paulownia (Paulownia spp.) wood boards used in this study
were commercially supplied from Rize, Turkey. The boards
were 20 mm 100 mm 500 mm (thickness width length) in
dimensions.
The paulownia wood boards were thermally compressed using
a laboratory type hot-press. As two boards for each groups plus
two boards for control group, totally ten experimental wood boards
were prepared. Experimental design of the thermal modication
process was shown in Table 1.
The Paulownia wood boards were cut into test specimens. Den-
sity, thickness swell (TS), and water absorption (WA) (after 24 h
water soaking time) tests were performed according to interna-
tional standards in this study. Vertical density prole (VDP) was
measured with Density Prole Measuring System DA-X (GreCon,
Inc. Alfeld, Germany) at the Quality Laboratory of Kastamonu Inte-
grated Wood Industry and Trade Inc. located in Kocaeli, Turkey. The
VDP analysis setup can be seen in Fig. 1.
Janka hardness test was performed according to ASTM-D 1037
(1999) standard using a mechanical test instrument. Initial mois-
ture content (MC) was determined before the thermal modication
process to evaluate drying behavior of the paulownia wood boards.
Fig. 1. Vertical density prole measuring system (GreCon, 2007).
Table 2
Mean density values of the thermally modied or unmodied boards.
Modication groups Density values
g/cm3 Duncans
grouping
Control 0.217 (0.012) abcde
A 0.202 (0.008) cde
B 0.199 (0.010) de
C 0.198 (0.008) e
D 0.206 (0.010) bde
Measurements of nal MCs were done after the thermal modica-
tion process.
3. Results and discussion
Mean density (MD) results of the thermally modied or unmodi-
ed paulownia wood boards were shown in Table 2. The MD values
of the modied or unmodied boards ranged between 0.20 and
0.21 g/cm3 . The results indicate that the thermal modication pro-
cess by hot-pressing method had some effects on the MD values
of the paulownia wood boards. As can be seen from Table 2, the
average density values of the paulownia wood boards were lower
after the thermal modication process. This is probably because
the nal moisture content of the treated wood (approximately 9%)
was lower than the nal moisture content of the control sam-
ples (approximately 13%). The vertical density prole (VDP) of the
paulownia wood boards was also affected by thermally compress-
ing process. The results obtained in this study also showed that the
surface densities of the boards increased with press pressure. Peak
density (PD) and core density (CD) values as VDP characteristics
of the paulownia wood boards were inuenced by the modica-
tion. Similar ndings were obtained by Candan et al. (submitted
for publication), Unsal and Candan (2008), Unsal et al. (2011b). It
was stated that the MD and PD values of the boards increased as
the hot-press pressure increased.
The results obtained in this study revealed that the ther-
mal modication process affected thickness swell (TS) and water
absorption (WA) values of the paulownia solid wood boards. TS and
WA values of the modied or unmodied boards after 24 h water
soaking time were shown in Table 3.
As shown in Table 3, the lowest TS values after 24 h water
soaking time were obtained in the unmodied paulownia boards
while the highest values were determined in the board modied
at 22.5 bar with 170 C. With regard to modied board groups, the
paulownia wood boards modied at 20 bar with 150 C had the low-
est TS values after 24 h water soaking time. The lowest WA values
after 24 h water immersion period were determined in the boards
modied at 20 bar with 150 C (group A). The WA values of the
modied paulownia wood boards were signicantly higher than
unmodied wood boards, except modication group A.
The ndings acquired in this present work showed that the ther-
mal modication process could not generate an enhancement in the
dimensional stability properties of the paulownia wood boards. The
TS and WA values of the boards were increased by the thermal mod-
ication process. As can be seen in Table 3, the TS and WA values of
control board were 1.4% and 78.7% while the values were 1.8% and
74.5%, respectively, for the boards modied at moderate process
conditions. There were not also great differences between the WA
values of control, group A, and group B wood boards.
The results determined in the TS and WA tests may be explained
with springback behavior of wood due to the densication dur-
ing hot-press. As can be seen in Table 3, the TS and WA values of
the modied paulownia boards increased with increasing hot-press
pressure. The springback phenomenon is greatly controlled by the
 Z. Candan et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 45 (2013) 461464
Table 3
Thickness swell and water absorption values of the paulownia wood boards.
Modication groups (%)
Thickness swelling (TS)
Control 1.377 (0.400)
A 1.757 (0.877)
B 2.242 (0.624)
C 3.184 (0.506)
D 3.362 (0.808)
Table 4
MC values of the modied or unmodied boards.
Modication groups MC values
(%)
Control 13.00 (0.00)
A 9.80 (1.56)
B 10.27 (0.55)
C 8.57 (0.21)
D 8.57 (0.42)
press pressure level. Higher press pressure level may cause greater
amount of springback. The results were parallel with the ndings
determined by Candan et al. (submitted for publication), Cloutier
et al. (2008), and Unsal et al. (2011b).
Table 4 shows average moisture content (MC) values of the
thermally modied or unmodied wood boards. The nding of
this present work indicates that the paulownia wood boards dried
during the thermal modication process. The MC values of the
thermally modied boards were signicantly lower than that of
the control wood boards. The MC values of the paulownia wood
boards decreased as the modication temperature increased. The
initial MC values of the paulownia wood boards were around 13%.
A decrease of 34% was observed on the MC values of the paulownia
wood boards modied with maximum temperature. The lowest MC
values (8.6%) were determined in the paulownia boards modied
at a temperature of 170 C. It could be stated that the drying effect
of the thermal modication is remarkable in this work.
The ndings acquired in this study agree with previous studies.
Unsal and Candan (2008) examined effect of thermal modication
on properties of pine wood boards. It was stated that the modi-
cation had a signicant effect on the MC values of the boards. The
results were also parallel with the results obtained by Candan et al.
(submitted for publication) and Cloutier et al. (2008).
Janka hardness values of the thermally modied or unmodied
paulownia wood boards were shown in Table 5. The results indicate
that hardness values of thermally modied paulownia wood boards
were signicantly higher than those of the unmodied boards.
Table 5 obviously show that the highest hardness values were
obtained in the boards modied at press pressure of 22.5 bar and
temperature of 170 C while the lowest values were obtained in the
unmodied boards. The hardness values of the boards increased
with increasing pressure for either 150 C or 170 C and were
Table 5
Janka hardness results of the modied or unmodied boards.
Modication groups Janka Hardness
(kgf)
Control 528.909 (99.91)
A 589.549 (91.52)
B 743.456 (112.41)
C 557.703 (85.72)
D 667.106 (70.15)
463
Duncans grouping Water absorption (WA) Duncans grouping
e 78.668 (2.715) d
d 74.536 (6.819) e
cde 80.806 (6.624) cd
bcde 85.283 (8.829) bde
acde 99.273 (9.722) abcde
improved by 26.1% and 19.6%, respectively. An increase of 40.5%
was obtained on the hardness values of the boards modied with
22.5 bar + 170 C. The differences among the groups were statis-
tically signicant. The nding obtained in this present work also
Duncans
grouping showed that the hardness values of the paulownia wood boards
decreased with increasing the modication temperature.
abcde
bcde The enhancement in the hardness values could be attributed
cde with an increase in surface densities of the boards. The results
d obtained in this study revealed that the surface hardness of the
e paulownia wood boards enhanced with the thermal modica-
tion. Previous studies by Candan et al. (submitted for publication),
Cloutier et al. (2008), Unsal and Candan (2008), and Unsal et al.
(2011b) acquired parallel results with this study.
4. Conclusions
Many wood modication techniques have been used in the
scientic studies. Thermally compressing is also one of the modi-
cation methods to be used to improve its performance properties.
The thermal modication method used in this present study
affected vertical density prole, thickness swell, water absorption,
moisture content, and hardness of the paulownia wood boards.
The ndings obtained in this study indicated that the thermal
modication process could not generate an enhancement in the
dimensional stability properties of the paulownia wood boards.
Moisture content values of the paulownia boards were decreased
by the thermal modication using hot-press. The modication
caused an increase on the surface density of the boards. It also be
concluded that the hardness values of the paulownia wood boards
were signicantly improved by the densication occurred on the
surfaces of the paulownia boards.
The result of this research reveals that the thermally compress-
ing method could be used to improve end-use performance of
low-density wood materials made from fast-growing tree species
such as paulownia, poplar, eucalyptus etc. Thermal modication
might be considered as an environment friendly method instead
of impregnation with chemicals. In addition, sustainable manage-
ment of natural resources could be achieved by using the thermal
modication method.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Kastamonu Integrated Wood
Industry and Trade Inc. located in Kocaeli, Turkey for VDP tests in
this study. The authors also would like to thank Kerem Salih Colak,
Hseyin Basri Bayirli, and Osman Zafer Kaya who are former under-
graduate students at Department of Forest Products Engineering,
Istanbul University for their assistance with testing procedure.
Duncans
grouping References
e
c Atik, C., Candan, Z., Unsal, O. Colour characteristics of thermally compressed pine
abcde wood. Ciencia Florestal, in press.
ASTM-D 1037, 1999. Standard Test Methods for Evaluating Properties of Wood-Base
d
Fiber and Particle Panel Materials. American Society for Testing and Materials,
bcde
West Conshohocken, PA.
464 Z. Candan et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 45 (2013) 461464
Burmester, A., 1973. Effect of heat-pressure-treatment of semi-dry wood on its
dimensional stability. Holz Roh Werkst. 31, 237243.
Candan, Z., 2007. Effects of some production parameters on vertical density prole
(VDP) and technological properties of medium density berboard (MDF). MSc
Thesis. Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey, 400 p.
Candan, Z., Hiziroglu, S., McDonald, A.G., 2010. Surface quality of thermally com-
pressed Douglas r veneer. Mater. Des. 31, 35743577.
Candan, Z., Korkut, S., Unsal, O. Thermally compressed poplar wood (TCW): physical
and mechanical properties, Drvna industrija, submitted for publication.
Cloutier, A., Fang, C., Mariotti, N., Koubaa, A., Blanchet, P., 2008. Densication of
wood veneers under the effect of heat, steam and pressure. In: Proceedings of
the 51st International Convention of Society of Wood Science and Technology,
November 1012, 2008 Concepcin, Chile.
Dogu, D., Tirak, K., Candan, Z., Unsal, O., 2010. Anatomical investigation of thermally
compressed wood panels. BioResources 5 (4), 26402663.
Giebeler, E., 1983. Dimensional stabilization of wood by moistureheatpressure-
treatment. Holz Roh Werkst. 41, 8794.
GreCon, 2007. Raw Density Measuring in a Laboratory Using Modern X-ray Tech-
nology. GreCon, Hannover, Germany.
Hizal, K.T., Dogu, D., Candan, Z., Unsal, O., 2012. Anatomical investigation of ther-
mally compressed eucalyptus wood panels. In: Society of Wood Science and
Technology 55th International Convention, 2012, Beiijng, China.
Kamke, F.A., Kultikova, E.V., Lenth, C.A., 2000. Viscoelastic thermal compression of
wood. In: Proceedings of the 5th Pacic-Rim Bio-based Composites Symposium,
December 1013, 2000, Canberra, Australia.
Kamke, F.A., 2006. Densied radiata pine for structural composites. Maderas. Cienc.
Tecnol. 8 (2), 8392.
Kamke, F.A., Rathi, V.M., 2011. Apparatus for viscoelastic thermal compression of
wood. Eur. J. Wood Wood Prod. 69, 483487.
Korkut, S., Kocaefe, D., 2009. Effect of heat treatment on wood properties. J. Fac.
Forest. Duzce Univ. 5 (2), 1134.
Kutnar, A., Kamke, F.A., Sernek, M., 2008. Mechanical properties of densied
VTC wood relevant for structural composites. Holz Roh Werkst. 66 (6),
439446.
Kutnar, A., Kamke, F.A., Sernek, M., 2009. Density prole and morphology of vis-
coelastic thermal compressed wood. Wood Sci. Technol. 43, 5768.
Kutnar, A., Humar, M., Kamke, F.A., Sernek, M., 2011. Fungal decay of vis-
coelastic thermal compressed (VTC) wood. Eur. J. Wood Wood Prod. 69,
325328.
Militz, H., 2002. Thermal Treatment of Wood: European Processes and Their Back-
ground. IRG/WP 02-40241.
Seborg, R.M., Millett, M.A., Stamm, A.J., 1945. Heat stabilized compressed wood
(Staypak). Mech. Eng. 67, 2531.
Stamm, A.J., 1964. Wood and Cellulose Science. Ronald Press, New York, USA.
Stamm, A.J., Haris, E.E., 1953. Chemical Processing of Wood. Chemical Publishing
Co., Inc., New York, USA.
Tjeerdsma, B.F., 2006. Heat Treatment of Wood Thermal Modication. SHR Timber
Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Unsal, O., Candan, Z., 2007. Effects of press pressure and temperature on the moisture
content, vertical density prole and janka hardness of pine wood panels. In:
Proceedings of 10th International IUFRO Division 5, Wood Drying Conference,
August 2630, 2007, Orono, ME, USA.
Unsal, O., Candan, Z., 2008. Moisture content, vertical density prole and Janka hard-
ness of thermally compressed pine wood panels as a function of press pressure
and temperature. Drying Technol. 26, 11651169.
Unsal, O., Kartal, S.N., Candan, Z., Arango, R.A., Clausen, C.A., Green III, F., 2008. Pre-
liminary investigation of biological resistance, water absorption, and swelling of
thermally compressed pine wood panels. In: The International Research Group
on Wood Protection 39th Annual Meeting, IRG/WP 08-40396, May 2529, 2008,
Istanbul, Turkey.
Unsal, O., Kartal, S.N., Candan, Z., Arango, R.A., Clausen, C.A., Green III, F., 2009. Decay
and termite resistance, water absorption, and swelling of thermally compressed
wood panels. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 63, 548552.
Unsal, O., Candan, Z., Korkut, S., 2011a. Wettability and roughness character-
istics of modied wood boards using a hot-press. Ind. Crops Prod. 34 (3),
14551457.
Unsal, O., Candan, Z., Buyuksari, U., Korkut, S., Chang, Y.S., Yeo, H., 2011b. Effect of
thermal compression treatment on the surface hardness, vertical density prole,
thickness swelling of eucalyptus wood boards by hot-pressing. J. Korean Wood
Sci. Technol. 39 (2), 148155.
Wang, J., Cooper, P.A., 2004. Vertical density proles in thermally compressed bal-
sam r wood. Forest Prod. J. 55 (5), 6568.
Wang, J., Cooper, P.A., 2005. Effect of grain orientation and surface wetting on vertical
density proles of thermally compressed r and spruce. Holz Roh Werkst. 63,
397402.
Wang, S., Winistorfer, P.M., Young, T.M., 2004. Fundamentals of vertical density
prole formation in wood composites. Part III. MDF density formation during
hot-pressing. Wood Fiber Sci. 36 (1), 1725.
Welzbacher, C.R., Wehsener, J., Rapp, A.O., Haller, P., 2008. Thermo-mechanical den-
sication combined with thermal modication of Norway spruce (Picea abies
Karst) in industrial scale-dimensional stability and durability aspects. Holz Roh
Werkst. 66 (1), 3949.