Structural mechanics of wood composite materials I: Ultrasonic evaluation of internal bond strength during an accelerated aging test

Abstract

This research attempts to observe indirectly the variation of internal bond characteristics for wood composite materials during accelerated aging test treatment using ultrasonic pulse-transmission techniques. Particleboard (PB) and oriented strandboard (OSB) were the representative specimens. The transit time of the ultrasonic wave propagating through the samples along the nominal length and thickness directions was recorded using an apparatus called PUNDIT (C.N.S. Electronic, London). The transit times were measured in the samples under an oven-dried condition after treating them with boiling water at different treating time stages, and the velocity was then calculated based on the transit time. Examination of the internal bond strength conducted on the same samples was done according to JIS A 5908. A study of the relations among springback, internal bond strength, and velocity indicated that a high correlation existed between ultrasonic velocity measured in the length or thickness direction and the internal bond strength for the PB specimen, but no significant correlation was observed between the velocity measured in the length direction and the internal bond strength for the OSB specimen. The results of this research suggested that ultrasound techniques can be applied to predict or evaluate the internal bond state of some wood-composite materials made of relatively small particles, such as PB especially, during accelerated aging test treatment processes.