VOLUME 53, ISSUE 3/2012

The present work deals with selected physical properties of Turkey Oak from Kosovo, compared to Pedunculate Oak. Colour, sorption and swelling of heartwood and sapwood of both species were investigated. The results complement the mechanical characteristics of a previous investigation in the areas of colour, sorption and swelling. Especially the swelling properties of Turkey Oak are relevant for the use of these species.

Based on several historical applications of Wood Veneer Composites (WVC) the advantages and disadvantages of wood materials in today`s mechanical and plant engineering are discussed. integrated WVC lightweight structures are especially taken into account. The highly modifiable mechanical properties of WVC allow application-adapted integration of further technical functions. The capabilities of integrated lightweight structures based on wood materials are demonstrated on several technical applications. Furthermore results of flexural tests, precisely the retrieved substituted bending modulus and the maximal deflection as well as results of fatigue testing of the connecting components are given. Finally problems occurring during realization of WVC lightweight prototypes and their potential solutions are shown.

The effect of the irradiation with light of different wavelength regions onto the discolouration of thermally modified wood as well as dark exotic wood species was studied. It revealed that the investigated wood surfaces are sensitive towards visible light of even higher wavelengths. As the result they undergo photobleaching or greying. The irradiation of extracts of different wood species led to similar discolouration effects as the irradiation of the wood surfaces themselves. Therefore it as concluded that the wood extractives are the main responsible substances of the light-induced discolouration of dark wood species of thermally modified wood.

Mobile resistance recording drilling using thin needles is used to inspect trees, timber and structures since 1987. Profiles of simple machine types reveal voids and severe decay. Electronic high-resolution versions, in addition, show cracks, delaminations, incipient decay and tree-ring density structures of earlywood and latewood. However, knowledge about wood anatomy is pre-requisite in order to be able to interpret the resulting profiles correctly.

The application of functional coatings on surfaces during industrial manufacturing process is an essential part in many kind of process chains. Production auxiliary components ensure or ease an on-going production process, serve as temporary protection of the base material or act as indispensable components to secure successional manufacturing steps. Thus, a monitoring of such coating processes will have a tremendous influence on the final product quality. Beside this, and from managerial point of view, it is an important aspect to prevent production errors and interruptions at an early stage. A progress based of already established measurement technologies have led to inline/online process analysis which enable nowadays a wide use for data acquisition of auxiliary components on surfaces in a non-contact and non-destructive way with the aim of fast and efficient production control. However, such applications on wood materials revealed insuperable obstacles apparently, arising from the complexity and peculiarity of such material as natural component. The are many and different optical systems already in use in the wood material manufacturing industry and especially laser-based procedure serve mainly to measure metric units. This contribution will introduce a measurement procedure from an analytical and chemical point of view which enables to acquire, evaluate and document a surface coating status from substantial information. It opens new perspectives and paves the route for more efficient process quality assurance up to real-time process steering in the wood manufacturing industry

For placing on the EU-market parquet and wooden floorings have to fulfil the CE-labelling requirements since March 2010 with the obligatory, safety-related classification relating to the reaction to fire performance. Competing with other floorings the manufacturing of parquet, a flooring from the natural but a priori combustible raw material of wood, necessitates knowing about the relations between the variable product construction and the test results according to DIN EN 13501-1 (2010), table 2, to realize a targeted designing of flameretardant parquet floorings. Within a research project the quantitative and qualitative influence of material and structural product parameters of multilayer parquet on its reaction to fire performance was investigated in detail. As a result several measures could be deduced showing improving potentials in direction to flame-retardant multilayer parquets.

The new Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz – EEG) of 28 July 2011 (EEG, 2012) revises the EEG completely. This has important effects for the lumber industry. The minimum tariffs, bonuses and annual degression rates for electricity generation from renewable energies have changed. The lumber industry has to consider that for new waste wood power stations will bring into service from 2013 on waste wood is excluded from the biomass definition. In future direct marketing of power is going to get more relevance.

Installed construction wood can be degraded by fungi and their enzymatic systems, respectively. This natural process shall be avoided and opposed for used wood in constructions. This task belongs to wood preservation. The only controlled application of wood degrading fungi is the validation of fungicidal effects of wood preservatives. To this end, the testing organisms are applied at the laboratory level in a sterile way. For a long time, the targeted wood treatment with such degrading fungi in commercial conditions seemed to be preposterous. The Thuringian inventor Walther Luthardt has investigated the natural living conditions of wood degrading European fungiedible mushrooms for decades. He has developed the first industrial process of wood modification using the technical mycology in order to use wood degrading properties for wood modification. Thus, he has extended wood usage.