Study on the Colorimetry Properties of Transparent Wood Prepared from Six Wood Species

Abstract

Transparent wood (TW) was prepared by directly impregnating the wood cell wall and cavity with index-matched prepolymerized methyl methacrylate (MMA). In this process, lignin is retained compared with the preparation of transparent wood in the past, making the production faster and more energy-efficient. The innovation lies in that the prepared transparent wood retains the natural color and texture of the wood while transmitting light, especially under the illumination of a specific light source, which exist as the special visual effects. In order to enhance the practicality of the research and effectively expand the types of home decoration materials, six common wood species with different densities were selected in the experiment. Then the characteristics and mechanisms of wood, that is, color difference, light transmittance, microstructure, changes of chemical functional groups, and tensile strength, before and after PMMA impregnating were compared and analyzed. It is concluded that the light transmittance and mechanical properties of the wood have been improved, and a good synergistic effect between wood and PMMA has been confirmed by the analysis of scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The above highlights make pervious to transparent wood, which has the potential as an excellent functional decorative material.

Softened Wood Treated by Deep Eutectic Solvents

“…As shown in Figure 3 b, the characteristic absorption peaks exhibited by NW are the same as those in the existing literature, including absorption peaks at 3375 cm –1 (O–H stretching vibration), 2925 cm –1 (C–H stretching vibration), 1736 cm –1 (C=O stretching vibration), 1505 and 1593 cm –1 (aromatic nucleus skeleton vibration), 1242 cm –1 (C–O stretching vibration), and 1034 cm –1 (ether bond vibration). 21 From the infrared spectra of five types of SW in Figure 3 b, it can be seen that the main stretching vibration point of SW in the spectrum is basically the same as NW, but the characteristic absorption peaks at 1736 cm –1 representing hemicellulose acetyl groups and the characteristic absorption peak strengths of lignin at 1593 and 1505 cm –1 were significantly reduced. This is because during the softening process, the hydrogen bond and ether linkage between lignin and hemicellulose was broken, which caused some lignin and hemicellulose to be dissolved and removed.…”

Scalable aesthetic transparent wood for energy efficient buildings

“…Previous works have demonstrated that by tuning the starting wood materials or the chemical processing parameters 31 , 32 , some blurred wood patterns can be maintained in the final products. It remains challenging to achieve clear and designable aesthetic patterns in transparent wood with integrated advantageous features such as a high optical transmittance, UV-blocking capability, low thermal conductivity and high mechanical strength.…”

Study on the Properties of Transparent Bamboo Prepared by Epoxy Resin Impregnation

“…Among them, cellulose and hemicellulose are colorless substances with a simple structure. Relatively speaking, the structure of lignin is relatively complicated [28], which is also one of the main factors for bamboo coloration [29].…”