Misao Yokoyama

Aging of wood: Analysis of color changes during natural aging and heat treatment

Abstract The color properties of aging wood samples from historical buildings have been compared with those of recent wood samples that were heat treated at temperatures ranging from 90°C to 180°C. The results of kinetic analysis obtained by the time-temperature superposition method showed that the color change during natural aging was mainly due to a slow and mild oxidation process. In other words, heat treatment could accelerate the changes in wood color that occur during aging. In one sample, the color change (ΔE* ab ) after 921 years at ambient temperature was almost equivalent to that of heating (artificial aging) approximately for 6.7 h at 180°C. The results have been interpreted that the aging and the subsequent change in wood color begin at the time of tree harvesting.

Changes in micropores in dry wood with elapsed time in the environment

To investigate the changes in microstructures of wood with elapsed time in the environment, CO2 adsorption onto dry wood was measured at ice-water temperature (273 K) for samples aged from 0.1 years to over 1000 years. The micropore size distribution was obtained using the Horvath-Kawazoe method. Micropores smaller than 0.6 nm in wood decreased in number with elapsed time in the environment, and a negative correlation was found between cumulative pore volume for pores smaller than 0.6 nm and elapsed time in the environment. Cumulative pore volume in the 1000-year sample was almost half of that in the 0.1- year sample. Micropores smaller than 0.6 nm in wood with a few decades or more of elapsed time increased in number after rewetting and drying. Consequently, microstructures of wood with longer time elapsed in the environment were considered to be more stable, because of longer-term thermal motion and possibly more repeated moisture adsorption and desorption and/or temperature variation in the environment.