Characterizing hydro-thermal compression behavior of aspen wood strands

Wood-based composites, such as oriented strand board, are typically manufactured by consolidating mats of resinated wood elements under heat and pressure. During this process, the temperature and moisture content distributions within the mat greatly affect the properties of end products. To improve the fundamental understanding of mat consolidation during hot-pressing, a model is established to investigate the transverse compression behavior of aspen wood strands for a variety of combinations of temperatures (20-200 degrees C) and moisture contents (0-15%). A regression approach is used to obtain the modulus-temperature-moisture relationship. In addition, elevated temperatures and moistures are found to influence the strain function of wood strands, which was previously assumed to be independent of these factors.