Currently, the demand for wood-based panels has been growing solidly in European countries. Medium density fibreboard (MDF) manifests the potentialities for outstanding physical and mechanical properties. However, MDF from different fiber sources is normally designed for internal applications due to the poor moisture resistant capability. This study was conducted on acetylated MDF (Medite® MDF Exterior) to evaluate how physical (i.e. density, moisture content, dimensional stability, thickness swelling) and mechanical (i.e. modulus of elasticity, internal bonding strength before and after accelerated aging, bending stiffness and bending strength) properties behave at different relative humidity (i.e. 35 %, 65 % and 85 % RH at constant temperature of 20 ℃) levels. Bending stiffness was measured non-destructively by means of resonance method. The material used for control samples was commercial MDF. The size, quantity, conditioning and test method were followed in accordance with respective standards. The results showed that physical and mechanical properties were less influenced by Medite® MDF Exterior compared to commercial MDF. Medite® MDF Exterior were superior to commercial MDF in moisture resistance. Medite® MDF Exterior had more stable mechanical properties than commercial MDF with the changes of relative humidity.

Acetylation of wood is a modification technique that chemically alters the wood substance and enhances several properties of wood. The basic principle is to impregnate wood with acetic anhydride to react and replace OH-groups with acetyl groups in the wood cell wall. In this way, the hygroscopicity of the modified wood is significantly reduced resulting in increased dimensional stability and durability compared with unmodified wood.The objective of this work was to study finger-jointing of acetylated Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) using a conventional melamine urea formaldehyde (MUF) adhesive. Two different types of acetylated pine specimens were investigated, acetylated pine sapwood (APS) and acetylated juvenile pine (AJP), the latter originating from young forest thinning trees (ca 20-30 years). The goal was to evaluate the bending strength, i.e. modulus of rupture (MOR), of such finger-jointed samples, in particular when the acetylated wood was combined with unmodified wood, in this case, Norway spruce (Picea Abies L. Karst) (US). The finger-jointing were performed at Moelven Töreboda by applying their existing industrial procedures. In total, five different of finger jointed sample groups were prepared combining the different specimens: APS-APS, AJP-AJP, US-US, APS-US, and AJP-US. Standardized procedures were used to determine the MOR of the finger-jointed samples, both unexposed at the factory condition state and after a water-soaking-drying cycle. In addition, the experiments also included determination of the moisture content (MC), density, and modulus of elasticity (MOE) (in bending along the grain) of the individual specimens.At the unexposed state, the APS-APS samples showed the highest MOR of 63,1 MPa, while those of the AJP-AJP showed the lowest value of 42,4 MPa. The corresponding values for the US-US, AJP-US and APS-US samples was 56,7, 47,5 and 46,9 MPa, respectively. In contrast to a typical wood failure for the US-US samples, a low amount of wood failure was observed in all cases involving the acetylated wood, indicating a low adhesive anchoring in the wood substrate at the finger-joint, although a surprisingly high strength was obtained for the APS-APS samples. A significantly lower MC content of 4,9 % and a remarkably low value of 1,7 %, was found for the APS and AJP, respectively, compared with 9,2% for the US. The significantly lower MC combined with an assumed increased hydrophobicity of the acetylated wood possible causes a less effective MUF-wood bonding, or adhesion, compared with that of the unmodified wood. Possible, so-called over penetration of the MUF resin in the acetylated wood could also be an explanation for the poor wood-adhesive anchoring. The MOE of the individual APS, AJP and US specimens was 12,6, 8,3 and 11,4 GPa, respectively, indicating a significantly lower mechanical performance of AJP, and hence also of finger-joints of AJP, despite its very low MC, possible due to a higher microfibril angle in the cell walls in juvenile wood compared with mature wood. No clear correlation was found between the MOR and density of the acetylated samples.For the samples exposed to a water-soak-drying cycle, the highest MOR, and lowest reduction of 14 % compared with the unexposed state, was obtained for the US-US samples, whereas all samples involving the acetylated wood showed a distinctly higher reduction. The MOR of the AJP-AJP and AJP-US samples were reduced with 47 % and 50 %, respectively, while the MOR of the APS-APS and APS-US samples were reduced with 43 % and 23 %, respectively. It should be emphasized, however, that after the standard drying-time, which was the same for all samples, the acetylated samples, compared with the untreated ones, did not dry out to the same level as for the dry unexposed state, i.e. the acetylated samples had a high MC of ca 30-40% in these MOR tests. This high MC level could be the main reason for the dramatic strength losses. Furthermore, a less efficient wood-MUF adhesion as well as the drying under acidic conditions may also be possible causes for the reduced bending strength of the finger-jointed samples with acetylated wood.

The increasing awareness of sustainability motivates the development of building materials from renewable resources. The requirements of wood-based products with improved durability, for example, an enhanced liquid repellence, is still a challenge. The aim of this thesis is to develop and study concepts to functionalize wood surfaces to obtain superhydrophobicity or superamphiphobicity, i.e. extreme liquid repellence of both water and oils. Birch and acetylated birch veneer samples were surface-modified by hydrophobized silicone nanofilaments. Specifically, birch samples surface-modified by fluorinated silicone nanofilaments (F-SMB) showed superamphiphobicity, which repelled water, ethylene glycol and hexadecane with static contact angles greater than 150° and roll-off angles lower than 10°. Birch and acetylated birch samples surface-modified by non-fluorinated silicone nanofilaments (SMB and SMAB) showed superhydrophobicity with static contact angles greater than 160° towards water, even for samples prepared using the shortest silicone nanofilaments reaction time of 1 h. In liquid uptake measurements submerging the F-SMB in water, ethylene glycol and hexadecane, a superamphiphobic plastron effect was observed which indicates that the wood surface was in Cassie-Baxter state. The plastron reduced the liquid uptake rate and extent depending on the interactions (diffusion and solubility) between the liquid and the silicone nanofilaments. The F-SMB showed good self-cleaning properties towards water and hexadecane. In multicycle Wilhelmy plate measurements, the SMB showed a lower water uptake than that of the acetylated samples, while the SMAB showed the lowest water uptake, i.e. a pronounced increased water resistance, due to a combined effect of acetylation and surface modification. In addition, the SMB exhibited more color change than the SMAB, which was caused by the release of hydrochloric acid during the surface modification process. / Den ökande medvetenheten kring hållbarsamhällsutvecklingmotiverarutveckling avbyggmaterial från förnybara resurser. Kraven på träbaserade produkter med förbättrad beständighet, exempelvisennödvändig vätskeavvisandeförmåga, är fortfarande en utmaning.Syftet med dennaavhandling äratt utveckla och studera koncept för attfunktionalisera träytorför att uppnåsuperhydrofobicitet ochsuperamfifobicitet, dvs en extrem vätskerepellerande egenskap för både vatten och oljor.Björk-och acetyleradebjörkfanérproverytmodifierades med hydrofobiserad silikon-nanofilament. Specifikt visade björk ytmodifierademedfluorerade silikon-nanofilament (F-SMB) superamfifobicitet, som repelleradevatten, etylenglykol och hexadekan med kontaktvinklar större än 150° och avrullningsvinklar lägre än 10°. Björk-och acetyleradebjörkproverytmodifierademedicke-fluorerade silikon-nanofilament (SMB och SMAB) visade superhydrofobicitet med kontaktvinklar större än 160° förvatten, även förprover framställda medkortast reaktionstid på 1 timme.Vid vätskeupptagningsmätningargenom att sänka F-SMB i vatten, etylenglykol och hexadekanobserverades en plastroneffekt som indikerade att träytan var i Cassie-Baxter-tillstånd. Plastronen minskade F-SMB vätskeupptagningshastighet och -nivåberoende på växelverkan(diffusion och löslighet) mellan vätskan och silikon-nanofilament. F-SMB uppvisadegoda självrengörande egenskaper förvatten och hexadekan.Vidmulticykel Wilhelmy-mätningarvisade SMB ett lägre vattenupptag än det acetylerade träet, medan SMAB visade denlägsta vattenupptagningen,det vill säga en mycketmärkbar ökad vattenavvisning, tack vareav en kombinerad effekt av acetylering och ytmodifiering. Dessutom uppvisade SMB en störrefärgförändring än SMAB, orsakad av frisättningen av saltsyra under ytmodifieringsprocessen. / <p>QC 20201113</p>