Effect of Thermal Modification of Oak Wood on Sawdust Granularity

Abstract

This paper presents the results of granulometric analyses of sawdust of thermally modified oak wood and unmodified oak wood sawed on narrow-kerf sash gang saw. Sawdust of dry thermally modified oak,produced during the sawing process on the frame sawing machine PRW 15–M with the feed speed of 0.36 and 1.67 m·min-1, consists of chip granularity in the range from 0.0412 mm to 3.6 mm, whereas the unmodified oak wood sawdust consists of chips in the granularity range from 0.0448 mm to 12.1 mm. In both cases polydispersive fibrils with a strong extension in one dimension were observed. It can be concluded that thermally modified oak sawdust is finer, with a distinct larger participation of the fraction in the granularity range a = 125–500 μm and a slightly increased share of the fraction in the range a = 32–125 μm.

Keywords

• oak wood sawdust
• thermal modification
• frame sawing machine
• granulometric analysis
• granularity