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Journal of Wood Science

Official Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society

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The effects of within-species and between-species variation in wood density on the photodegradation depth profiles of sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa)

Journal of Wood Science volume 51, pages 531–536 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Low density wood is more rapidly eroded than denser wood when exposed to the weather, possibly because it is more susceptible to photodegradation. Fourier transform infrared microscopy was used to examine: (1) the depth of photodegradation in earlywood and latewood of sugi (Japanese cedar) and earlywood of hinoki (Japanese cypress) exposed for up to 1500 h to artificial sunlight emitted by a xenon lamp (375 W/m2 within the 300 to 700 nm spectral range); and (2) the relationship between the density of wood tissues and depth of photodegradation. The depth of photodegradation varied between species (sugi and hinoki) as well as within a growth ring (sugi earlywood and latewood), and there was an inversely proportional relationship between depth of photodegradation and wood density. These findings may explain why low density earlywood is more rapidly eroded than latewood during weathering, and more generally, why there is an inverse relationship between the density of wood species and their rate of erosion during artificial and natural weathering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wood Improvement, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, PO Box 16, Tsukuba Norin, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Yutaka Kataoka & Makoto Kiguchi

  2. Department of Wood Properties, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Takeshi Fujiwara

  3. Centre for Advanced Wood Processing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Philip D. Evans

Authors
  1. Yutaka Kataoka
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  2. Makoto Kiguchi
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  3. Takeshi Fujiwara
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  4. Philip D. Evans
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Correspondence to Yutaka Kataoka.

Additional information

Part of this work was presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Sapporo, August 2004

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Kataoka, Y., Kiguchi, M., Fujiwara, T. et al. The effects of within-species and between-species variation in wood density on the photodegradation depth profiles of sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa). J Wood Sci 51, 531–536 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10086-004-0685-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10086-004-0685-4

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