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Effects of Biological and Chemical Degradation on the Properties of Scots Pine Wood—Part I: Chemical Composition and Microstructure of the Cell Wall

Broda, Magdalena; Popescu, Carmen-Mihaela; Curling, Simon F.; Ilie Timpu, Daniel; Ormondroyd, Graham A.

Authors

Magdalena Broda

Carmen-Mihaela Popescu

Simon F. Curling

Daniel Ilie Timpu

Graham A. Ormondroyd



Abstract

Research on new conservation treatment for archaeological wood requires large amounts of wooden material. For this purpose, artificial wood degradation (biological—using brown-rot fungus Coniophora puteana, and chemical—using NaOH solution) under laboratory conditions was conducted to obtain an abundance of similar samples that mimic naturally degraded wood and can serve for comparative studies. However, knowledge about its properties is necessary to use this material for further study. In this study, the chemical composition and microstructure of degraded cell walls were investigated using FT-IR, XRD, helium pycnometry and nitrogen absorption methods. The results show that biological degradation caused the loss of hemicelluloses and celluloses, including the reduction in cellulose crystallinity, and led to lignin modification, while chemical degradation mainly depleted the amount of hemicelluloses and lignin, but also affected crystalline cellulose. These changes affected the cell wall microstructure, increasing both surface area and total pore volume. However, the chemical degradation produced a greater number of mesopores of smaller size compared to fungal decomposition. Both degradation processes weakened the cell wall’s mechanical strength, resulting in high shrinkage of degraded wood during air-drying. The results of the study suggest that degraded wood obtained under laboratory conditions can be a useful material for studies on new consolidants for archaeological wood.

Citation

Broda, M., Popescu, C., Curling, S. F., Ilie Timpu, D., & Ormondroyd, G. A. (2022). Effects of Biological and Chemical Degradation on the Properties of Scots Pine Wood—Part I: Chemical Composition and Microstructure of the Cell Wall. Materials, 15(7), Article 2348. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072348

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 19, 2022
Online Publication Date Mar 22, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date May 9, 2022
Publicly Available Date May 9, 2022
Electronic ISSN 1996-1944
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 7
Article Number 2348
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072348
Keywords degraded wood; decayed wood; wood microstructure; surface area; porosity; cellulose crystallinity; chemical degradation; decay; wood polymers; wood properties
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2870523

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