Small Angle Neutron Scattering Reveals Wood Nanostructural Features in Decay Resistant Chemically Modified Wood

Rebecca E. Ibach, Nayomi Z. Plaza, Sai Venkatesh Pingali

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

While it is known that modifying the hydroxyls in wood can improve the decay resistance; what is often missing in the literature is whether these modifications alter wood nanostructure, and how these changes correlate to the improved decay resistance. Here, we used small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to probe the effects of alkylene oxide modifications on wood nanostructure. Southern pine wood samples were chemically modified to various weight percentage gains (WPG) using four different alkylene oxides: propylene oxide (PO), butylene oxide (BO), epichlorohydrin (EpH), and epoxybutene (EpB). After modification, the samples were water leached for 2 weeks to remove any unreacted reagents or homopolymers and then equilibrium moisture content (EMC) was determined at 90% relative humidity (RH) and 27°C. Laboratory soil block decay evaluations against the brown rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum were performed to determine weight loss and biological efficacy of the modifications. To assist in understanding the mechanism, SANS was used to study samples that were fully immersed in deuterium oxide (D2O). These measurements revealed that the modifications altered the water distribution inside the cell wall, and the most effective modifications reduced the microfibril swelling and preserved the microfibril structure even after being subject to 12 weeks of brown rot exposure.

Original languageEnglish
Article number814086
JournalFrontiers in Forests and Global Change
Volume4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 11 2022

Funding

A portion of this work performed acknowledges the support of the Genomic Science Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), under Contract FWP ERKP752. The SANS studies on Bio-SANS (IPTS-21873.1) were supported by the OBER funded This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

FundersFunder number
OBER
U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service
U.S. Department of EnergyIPTS-21873.1, FWP ERKP752
Biological and Environmental Research

    Keywords

    • SANS
    • alkylene oxides
    • butylene oxide
    • epicholorohydrin
    • epoxybutene
    • fungal decay
    • propylene oxide
    • solid wood modification

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