In this study, beech wood (Fagus silvatica L.) has been chemically modified with citric acid (Acidum citricum) and sodium hypophosphate (SHP) as the catalyst and gradually thermo-condensed in the dryer. Afterwards, wetting angle, surface energy, and shear strength of glued joints of modified and unmodified wood were determined. Testing of the bond strength according to standard EN 204 and comparison between modified and unmodified samples were executed. The adhesive used for bonding samples was polyvinyl acetate (PVAC), commonly used for gluing solid wood panels. Testing material was divided into three groups (dry, wet, and wet conditioned samples), within which statistical analysis was performed, and the significance of the differences between the modified and unmodified samples was determined. Surface energy is correlated with the bond strength, indicating that modification with citric acid negatively affects the adhesive properties of beech wood. A reduction in the bond strength of modified wood glued with PVAC glue compared to unmodified wood was determined. All the results indicate that the modified samples do not meet the minimum requirements for EN 204 bonded with PVAC glue. Therefore, it will be necessary to conduct further studies using other types of adhesives to investigate whether modified wood might be suitable for gluing.

SAŽETAK • U konstrukcijama namještaja ugaoni se sklopovi često izvode sastavljanjem uz pomoć dvonavojnih ("trio")

This paper presents the influence of natural surface ageing in indoor conditions on bonding quality of thermally modified wood used in structural laminated products. Two unmodified and thermally modified wood species were used for the experiment: oak and beech. Samples were planed and glued with MUF adhesive 2 hours, 1, 2, 6, 10, and 18 days after planing. Properties of laminated beech and oak beams, namely shear strength, delamination and contact angle, were measured in order to detect 1) suitability of wood species for lamination process and 2) influence of extended storage time after planing on properties of laminated wood. Generally, both native and thermally modified beech exhibited better results of shear strength and delamination and had lower contact angles compared to oak and thermally modified oak. Results of the delamination test (total delamination) indicate time dependence of surface ageing. Both unmodified and thermally modified beech may be successfully laminated at least up to 2 days after planing, whereas neither oak nor thermally modified oak are suitable for lamination process due to excessive delamination. Results of delamination may be related to contact angle measurements. Shear strength of glue lines did not show any influence on natural surface ageing. However, whereas beech and thermally modified beech samples exhibited almost the same values of the shear strength regardless of the duration of surface ageing, there is an obvious difference in shear strength of oak and thermally modified oak samples.

The use of resins, whose curing reaction takes place by high temperature and hardener addition, is inevitably involved in particleboard manufacturing process. In addition to commercial hardeners, such as ammonium sulphate, with the aim of optimizing the production process and reducing the production costs, a certain percentage of hardener can, among other things, be replaced with price affordable bio-based materials. Tartaric acid, that is its salts (tartrates), which are commercially produced for the needs of wine and food industries, are a part of the aforementioned group of products. Since tartaric acid is a relatively inexpensive, readily available, weak diprotic and aldaric acid, the question arises whether it can be used as a component of the hardener system for curing urea-formaldehyde resins that are commercially used in particleboard production. For that reason, in this paper, the influence of partial replacement of ammonium sulphate hardener with tartaric acid on the mechanical properties (bending strength, modulus of elasticity and internal bond) and free formaldehyde content of experimentally produced particleboards was examined. Boards thickness, density and moisture content were also determined. The test results suggest that tartaric acid has a beneficial effect on the above particleboard properties, but they also indicate that the extent of that effect is strongly dependent on panel press time.