The benefits of aluminum lamination in improving the physical and mechanical properties of wood-based composites is now well documented. This paper shows the contribution of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to assess and compare the environmental footprint in the development of laminated panels. SimaPro 9.0 software, using Ecoinvent database was used to analyze the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of wood aluminum-laminated (WAL) panels and aluminum honeycomb panel (AHP). The impact 2002+ method was used to estimate environmental impacts. The LCA results show that the WAL panels manufacturing had a lower environmental impact than AHP manufacturing. In term of product, wood-based composites were the best choice as a core in laminated panel manufacturing. Wood-based composite manufacturing showed environmental advantages in all damage categories except in ecosystem quality. Aluminum alloy sheets manufacturing played an important role in the generation of environmental impacts for laminated panel development.

The goal of the present study was to develop a low-density thermal insulation board using wood fibers and a bio-based adhesive as a binder, which was prepared from a crude glycerol and citric acid mixture. The physical and mechanical properties of insulation boards manufactured using two ratios of crude glycerol and citric acid (1:0.66 and 1:1 mol/mol) and two adhesive contents (14% and 20%) were evaluated. The results show that the insulation boards with a range of density between 332 to 338 kg m−3 present thermal conductivity values between 0.064 W/m-K and 0.066 W/m-K. The effect of adhesive content was very significant for certain mechanical properties (tensile strength perpendicular to surface and compressive strength). The tensile strength (internal bond) increased between 20% and 36% with the increased adhesive content. In contrast, the compressive strength decreased between 7% and 15%. The thermo-mechanical properties obtained of insulation boards such as thermal conductivity, traverse strength, tensile strength parallel and perpendicular to surface, and compressive strength are in accordance with the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials C208-12 standard for different uses. The results confirm the potential of crude glycerol and citric acid mixture to be used as an adhesive in the wood fiber insulation boards’ manufacturing for sustainability purposes.

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The mechanical behaviour of wood over time depends on temperature, relative humidity, applied load and the direction of the applied load, among other factors. In the present study, the mechanical behaviour of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) wood was determined using creep tests in cantilever bending. These tests were carried out at different load levels, in a controlled environment chamber at a constant temperature of 30¡ 0?5uC and a relative humidity of 37, 67 and 83% for constant conditions and a relative humidity ranging from 37 to 83% for variable conditions. The specimens were oriented in a radial pattern and cut to 110 mm in length, 25 mm in width and 7 mm in thickness. The results show the impact of load levels and moisture content. Under constant conditions, the results show a linear behaviour of viscoelastic creep. Under variable relative humidity conditions, changing moisture contents resulted in significantly higher creep (mechanosorptive) compared to constant conditions.

aThe purpose of this paper was to determine the mechano-sorptive strains produced during desorption of moisture from Eucalyptus nitens specimens, from a perspective of modeling wood drying stresses. Eucalyptus nitens samples were tested in the radial and tangential directions. The mechano-sorptive strain was measured by cantilever bending during desorption. The runs were performed in a conditioning chamber at constant low temperature and variable equilibrium moisture content. Four load levels were considered for testing. The results showed that the mechano-sorptive strain during desorption of moisture was proportional to applied stress and reached the maximum value in the tangential direction. Also, the mechano-sorption coefficient depended on wood orientation and reached the maximum value of 5.46 × 10 -2 in the tangential direction. Bio-Bio, Av. Collao 1202, 4081112, Concepción, Chile; *Corresponding author: nattperez@gmail.com Keywords INTRODUCTIONChile has approximately 0.74 million hectares of Eucalyptus plantations available for industrial processing, and approximately 30% contain Eucalyptus nitens (INFOR 2015). E. nitens plantations are mainly distributed in the VIII and X regions, and they are the fastest growing species in Chile. E. nitens plantations grow as fast as 77 m 3 /ha/year (INFOR 1989), and they are well adapted to the cold winter conditions in Southern Chile (INFOR 2004).The volume of wood from E. nitens available in Chile for commercial use is estimated to reach 7 million m 3 per year in 2040 (INFOR 2015). This abundance is an incentive for processing this species into solid wood products for domestic and international markets. Unfortunately, the development of commercial solid products from this species is currently limited by the sawlog performance due to longitudinal growthstrains (Valencia et al. 2011) and drying difficulties due to their propensity of surface and internal checking, collapse, and higher transversal shrinkage (Ananías et al. 2009(Ananías et al. , 2014Sepúlveda et al. 2016). A more comprehensive understanding of the drying properties of E. nitens is essential for the successful processing of this species in commercial solid wood products.E. nitens is highly prone to internal checking (Leandro et al. 2008;Rebolledo et al. 2013). E. nitens of lower density tends to be associated with higher internal intra-ring PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE bioresources.com Pérez et al. (2016). "Mechano-sorptive strain," BioResources 11(4), 8277-8284. 8278checking. The drying of E. nitens solid wood is also limited by collapse propensity (Ananías et al. 2009(Ananías et al. , 2014Sepúlveda et al. 2016). During the initial stages of drying, the surface layers shrink and exert compressive stresses on the core-wood, inducing drying stresses. These behaviors change with moisture content and temperature variations during drying. The drying stresses cause permanent and transitory deformations on the wood, i.e., warping and internal checking. For E. nitens, Pérez et al. (2013) observed that drying stres...