Machining grooves and ridges (peaks) into the surface of wooden deckboards reduces undesirable checking that develops when "profiled" boards are exposed to the weather. We aim to develop improved profiles for amabilis fir decking to reduce its susceptibility to checking, and also to examine whether profiling influences distortion (cupping) of deckboards. We systematically varied radii of grooves and peaks, and the heights and widths of peaks in profiled deckboards, exposed them to the weather, and measured checking and cupping of boards. Profiling significantly reduced the numbers and sizes of checks in amabilis fir deckboards, but increased cupping. Profiles with narrow grooves and tall peaks were generally better at restricting checking than profiles with wide grooves and shorter peaks. Our results suggest that one of the profiles we tested would be better at restricting checking than profiles used previously to manufacture profiled decking from amabilis fir. We conclude that the surface checking of profiled amabilis fir decking can be significantly reduced by altering the geometry of surface profiles. In principal, the same approach could be used with other softwood species that have potential to capture a share of the large and important market for wood decking.
The inner and outer surfaces of bamboo stems are usually removed prior to the manufacture of bamboo panels because the surfaces are hydrophobic and difficult to bond with glue. Hence, the recovery and utilization ratio of bamboo during processing is low. This study focused on using glow-discharge plasma to treat green bamboo surfaces to make them less hydrophobic. The effects of plasma treatment on green bamboo stems were examined using contact goniometry (wettability), non-contact confocal profilometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Confocal profilometry and SEM revealed that the morphology of green bamboo surfaces varied between 3 different stems. Plasma was able to etch bamboo green surfaces, and make them rougher and more powdery. Plasma treatment was effective at converting green bamboo surfaces from hydrophobic (initial contact angle >110°) to hydrophilic (contact angle <20°). However, this effect was temporary and contact angle increased with time and recovered approximately 30% of its original value after 24 h. Based on our findings, we conclude that plasma treatment can alter parameters such as surface energy and roughness that could improve glue bonding of green bamboo, but delays between plasma treatment and further processing would need to be minimized.
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