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Effect of targeted acetylation on wood–water interactions at high moisture states

Fredriksson, Maria LU orcid ; Digaitis, Ramūnas LU ; Engqvist, Jonas LU and Thybring, Emil E. LU orcid (2024) In Cellulose 31(2). p.869-885
Abstract

Acetylation is a wood modification used to increase the durability. Although it is known that the wood moisture content is lowered, the exact mechanisms behind the increased durability are not known. However, since fungi need water in different locations for different purposes the location and state of water is most probably of importance in addition to the total moisture content. In a previous study, we used targeted acetylation to alter the wood–water interactions in different parts of the wood structure in water saturated and hygroscopic moisture states. The main range for fungal degradation is, however, between these moisture ranges. This study investigated the effect of targeted acetylation on location, state and amount of water at... (More)

Acetylation is a wood modification used to increase the durability. Although it is known that the wood moisture content is lowered, the exact mechanisms behind the increased durability are not known. However, since fungi need water in different locations for different purposes the location and state of water is most probably of importance in addition to the total moisture content. In a previous study, we used targeted acetylation to alter the wood–water interactions in different parts of the wood structure in water saturated and hygroscopic moisture states. The main range for fungal degradation is, however, between these moisture ranges. This study investigated the effect of targeted acetylation on location, state and amount of water at non-saturated, high moisture states using the pressure plate technique. Specimens were modified using acetic anhydride by two approaches: (1) uniform modification (2) interface modification acting on the cell wall-lumen interface. They were then conditioned to eight moisture states between 99.64 and 99.98% relative humidity in both absorption and desorption and the location and state of water was studied using Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, X-ray computed tomography and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Capillary water was present at all the included moisture states for all specimen types, but the amounts of capillary water in absorption were small. Increasing degree of interface modification increased the amount of capillary water compared to untreated wood. In addition, the uniformly modified wood often had higher amounts of capillary water than the untreated wood. The amount of cell wall water was decreased by uniform modification, but slightly or not reduced by the interface modification. The combination of targeted modification and conditioning to high well-defined moisture states thus gave very different amounts of capillary water and cell wall water depending on the conditioning history (absorption or desorption) and choice of modification. This opens new possibilities for designing materials and moisture states for fungal degradation experiments of wood.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Acetic anhydride, Acetylation, Moisture content, Moisture sorption, Wood modification
in
Cellulose
volume
31
issue
2
pages
17 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85180693497
ISSN
0969-0239
DOI
10.1007/s10570-023-05678-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a27c212e-67ae-49d4-86ef-a9f40982b31f
date added to LUP
2024-02-05 10:47:43
date last changed
2024-02-05 10:48:59
@article{a27c212e-67ae-49d4-86ef-a9f40982b31f,
  abstract     = {{<p>Acetylation is a wood modification used to increase the durability. Although it is known that the wood moisture content is lowered, the exact mechanisms behind the increased durability are not known. However, since fungi need water in different locations for different purposes the location and state of water is most probably of importance in addition to the total moisture content. In a previous study, we used targeted acetylation to alter the wood–water interactions in different parts of the wood structure in water saturated and hygroscopic moisture states. The main range for fungal degradation is, however, between these moisture ranges. This study investigated the effect of targeted acetylation on location, state and amount of water at non-saturated, high moisture states using the pressure plate technique. Specimens were modified using acetic anhydride by two approaches: (1) uniform modification (2) interface modification acting on the cell wall-lumen interface. They were then conditioned to eight moisture states between 99.64 and 99.98% relative humidity in both absorption and desorption and the location and state of water was studied using Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, X-ray computed tomography and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Capillary water was present at all the included moisture states for all specimen types, but the amounts of capillary water in absorption were small. Increasing degree of interface modification increased the amount of capillary water compared to untreated wood. In addition, the uniformly modified wood often had higher amounts of capillary water than the untreated wood. The amount of cell wall water was decreased by uniform modification, but slightly or not reduced by the interface modification. The combination of targeted modification and conditioning to high well-defined moisture states thus gave very different amounts of capillary water and cell wall water depending on the conditioning history (absorption or desorption) and choice of modification. This opens new possibilities for designing materials and moisture states for fungal degradation experiments of wood.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fredriksson, Maria and Digaitis, Ramūnas and Engqvist, Jonas and Thybring, Emil E.}},
  issn         = {{0969-0239}},
  keywords     = {{Acetic anhydride; Acetylation; Moisture content; Moisture sorption; Wood modification}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{869--885}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Cellulose}},
  title        = {{Effect of targeted acetylation on wood–water interactions at high moisture states}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05678-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10570-023-05678-8}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}