Impact of Thermal Treatment and Accelerated Aging on the Chemical Composition, Morphology, and Properties of Spruce Wood
2025
František Kačík | Jozef Kúdela | Eva Výbohová | Tereza Jurczyková | Iveta Čabalová | Lukáš Adamčík | Elena Kmeťová | Danica Kačíková
Thermal modification improves the properties of wood, especially its stability and durability. We thermally treated spruce wood with the Thermowood process at three temperatures (160 °:C, 180 °:C, and 210 °:C) and subjected it to accelerated aging in wet mode. We evaluated the chemical composition (wet chemistry, infrared spectroscopy), color, surface morphology, and wetting of the wood surface with water. Thermal treatment caused a significant decrease in hemicelluloses (up to 72.39% at a temperature of 210 °:C), which initiated an increase in the content of more resistant wood components&mdash:cellulose and lignin. With accelerated aging, the hemicellulose content decreased by another 5%. The most significant differences between the infrared spectra of thermally modified wood before and after exposure to accelerated aging were in the absorption bands of lignin (1509 and 1596 cm&minus:1) and in the region of carbonyl groups between 1800 and 1630 cm&minus:1. Thermal treatment also caused a change in the color of the wood to dark brown: the overall color difference &Delta:E increased several times. The thermal-induced shortening of polysaccharide fibers and reduction in their width were even more manifested during accelerated aging. This work contains new knowledge about the properties critical for the reuse of thermally modified wood after accelerated aging, simulating the end of its life cycle.
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