Thesis
Wood-thermoplastic composites manufactured using beetle-killed spruce from Alaska's Kenai Peninsula
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/103159
Abstract
Over the last 20 years the spruce bark-beetle outbreak has infested an estimated 0.6 million ha (1.5 million acres) of spruce trees within Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Of these acres 95% mortality is common and accounts for an estimated timber lose of 2 billion board feet. As the bark-beetle infestation continues to spread and trees already dead continue to deteriorate, traditional wood products no longer become a viable option. New uses and products are needed to make logging viable and one possible product is wood-thermoplastic composites (WPC) that use wood flour as a feedstock and are less sensitive to the integrity of the solid wood source. The objective of this project was to characterize the mechanical properties of the solid wood source based on the three deterioration levels; Live, Partially Deteriorated, and Highly Deteriorated and to evaluate the feasibility of manufacturing WPC using wood flour from the three deterioration levels. Based on small clear specimen testing; site location, tree height location and deterioration level was evaluated and statistically differed. All but deterioration level was combined and used to develop a mixture model for manufacturing of WPC. Seventeen runs were developed using varying proportions of wood flour from the three deterioration levels and compared against a run of pine wood flour, which served as the control for this study. WPC deck boards were tested in static bending, moisture effect, high temperature effect, low temperature effect, and freeze-thaw effect and compared against one another. In all cases the seventeen runs exceeded the MOE and MOR values of the pine control run, averaging 14.8% and 9.1% higher respectively. Mechanical and physical properties of the WPC manufactured from beetle-killed spruce were slightly better than properties of WPC composed of pine wood flour.
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Details
- Title
- Wood-thermoplastic composites manufactured using beetle-killed spruce from Alaska's Kenai Peninsula
- Creators
- Nels Royal Peterson
- Contributors
- Vikram Yadama (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525381001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis