Authors: Rosilei A Garcia Bernard Riedl Alain Cloutier
Publish Date: 2008/08/01
Volume: 43, Issue: 15, Pages: 5037-5044
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of heat treatment of fibres on the advancing and receding contact angles and wicking of panels by the Wilhelmy plate method to verify the possible relationships between wetting properties and water absorption of the panels and to determine the surface composition of heattreated fibres by Xray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS Fibres were treated at 150 and 180 °C for 15 30 and 60 min Our results showed that the treatment increased contact angles and decreased water absorption Wicking was reduced by about 70 for the 150 °C group and 80 for the 180 °C group XPS analysis demonstrated a slight decrease of the O/C ratio and changes of the C1/C2 ratio following treatmentThe authors are grateful to the CNPQ—Conselho National de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico of Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil for a scholarship awarded to Rosilei A Garcia to Uniboard Canada Inc—Panneaux MDF LaBaie panel plant for providing the wood chips sawdust and shavings and to NSERC for funding under Discovery Grant 12195402 We also thank Forintek Canada Corporation Eastern Laboratory for fibres refining and Mr Serge Plamondon for technical assistance
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