Wood and natural fibers exhibit an advantageous combination of good mechanics at comparably low density. Nevertheless, comparing absolute strength and stiffness, wood is clearly inferior to materials such as metals and engineered composites. Since there is a strong correlation between wood density and wood mechanical performance, densification by transversal compression suggests itself as a route towards improved mechanics. Partially delignified densified spruce veneers with excellent tensile properties were produced by means of an alkaline (AL) and an organosolv (OS) approach. Plywood specimens were manufactured using treated veneers glued with a phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde adhesive and were compared with plywood samples made of native spruce veneers (Ref) and spruce veneer densified after plasticization by water impregnation (H2O). Roughly, the bending strength and the modulus of elasticity of plywood from partially delignified densified wood were improved by a factor of 2.4 and 3.5, respectively. Interlaminar shear strength did not match this improvement after partial delignification. Together with excessive thickness swelling, this might be a drawback of partially delignified densified wood in need for further research.
Keywords: chemical treatment; delignification; densification; plywood; wood composite; wood compression; wood modification; wood products.