Polymer modification of fast growing woods for improved mechanical response and sustainable architecture.

This body of work concerns the design and development of polymer modified timber products that are able to outperform engineered wood products from an environmental perspective while matching mechanical performance. The work presented includes the development of a novel, non-destructive FTIR-MATLAB analysis methodology that allows composite components to be accurately identified in both modified and unmodified cellulosic materials. A novel methodology for determining impregnation effectiveness through the complementary use of nanoindentation, FTIR and image analysis that allows unprecedented data mapping across large spatial regions of modified wood samples is also developed. Key experimental findings include a new understanding of the significance of both polymer blend components and aspects of the impregnation methodology; observations of dramatic step changes in impregnation effectiveness for polymer blends with greater than 5% crosslinker and impregnation processes that involve two phases are reported. The development of a simple model to predict the impregnation fluid flow during the vacuum phase of the impregnation process is shown to form a useful tool in the development of future modification techniques. New impregnation methodologies for UV and heat initiated wood modification are developed; allowing a novel environmental impact assessment to be carried out that studies the environmental significance of variations in the impregnation initiation process. The specific benefits of both microwave and UV initiated impregnation modification processes are clearly documented and the potential for future engineered wood product development is discussed.