Wood is a widely used construction material that has many advantageous properties. However, it suffers from weaknesses such as low-dimensional stability and low durability in humid environments. These issues are associated with the porous vascular structure of wood that leads to a high water uptake capacity. This research aims to reduce the water uptake capacity of spruce wood by dip-coating samples in an aqueous colloid of silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticles. SiO2 is a dense ceramic material with good chemical stability. It is readily available and affordable, making it an excellent candidate for this application. This study investigates the effect of SiO2 impregnation on the physico-mechanical properties of spruce wood. Density measurements, water uptake tests, microscopy examination, thermogravimetric analysis, and dynamic mechanical analysis were conducted on non-treated and SiO2-treated spruce wood samples. Quantitative and qualitative analyses demonstrated that SiO2 impregnation performed under higher vacuum pressure was more effective compared to the atmospheric condition and exhibited a greater presence of SiO2 in the wood’s vascular system. SiO2 impregnation under vacuum pressure demonstrated an effective increase in the density of the wood. It also reduced the porosity, which led to a significant reduction in the water uptake of the spruce wood. The analysis of the wood viscoelastic properties revealed that SiO2 impregnation under atmospheric and vacuum conditions triggered two different reinforcing mechanisms. The results showed that a significant improvement of the spruce wood storage and loss moduli could be achieved when impregnation was performed at the highest vacuum pressure of − 90 kPa.
This research has demonstrated that SiO2 impregnation under high vacuum pressure of -90 kPa can significantly reduce porosity by almost 10%, and improve mechanical and viscoelastic properties of spruce wood under dry and saturated states. Characterization methods, such as Impact test, DMA, SEM, EDS, Porosity and SAXS tests were conducted on non-treated and -90 kPa treated spruce wood samples under dry, saturated and submerged states to analyze the synergistic effect of high vacuum SiO2 impregnation pressure on wood’s properties. The results showed that high vacuum impregnation pressure had a significant positive reinforcing effect on wood’s properties. It increased the impact resistance of wood under dry and saturated conditions. Additionally, the high vacuum impregnation technique was able to overcome the water-induced softening effect and caused a significant increase in the Storage modulus through uniform dispersion of the SiO2 particles in the wood’s vascular structure. Consequently, the impregnation reinforced the wood, and ameliorated its capacity to absorb energy. High vacuum impregnation was also able to counteract the plasticizing effect of the water molecules and significantly increased the Loss modulus by increasing the internal friction and cohesion of the wood components with the addition of the nanoparticles to the vascular system, which increased the wood’s capacity to transform and dissipate energy. Quantitatively and qualitatively, impregnation under a vacuum pressure of -90 kPa exhibited an effective obstruction of the vascular structure of spruce wood. In all conditions, high vacuum impregnated samples showed significant enhancements over non-treated samples. This research demonstrated that high vacuum SiO2 impregnation is an effective wood processing techniques. Multiple materials and applications could benefit from this research wherein high strain-rate deformations is expected to occur or when simultaneous elastic behaviour of wood and its damping energy is needed. This study could also pave the way for research on the synergistic effect of SiO2 impregnation and water absorption on the viscoelastic behaviour of wood.
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