Effect of a thermo-mechanical densification process on selected properties of densified wood of Tasmanian oak and Eucalyptus nitens

Effect of a thermo-mechanical densification process on selected properties of densified wood of Tasmanian oak and Eucalyptus nitens | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effect of a thermo-mechanical densification process on selected properties of densified wood of Tasmanian oak and Eucalyptus nitens Benoit Belleville, Kyra C. Wood, Johannes Fehrmann This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6624040/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 19 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in European Journal of Wood and Wood Products → Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Regrowth Tasmanian oak and Eucalyptus nitens are fast-growing Australian plantation hardwoods widely cultivated in Tasmania. Despite their favourable physical and aesthetic properties, their relatively low density limits use to wood-chip production and minor interior applications. This study aimed to enhance the material properties of these species through thermo-mechanical densification. The effects of compression ratio, pressing time, and pressing temperature were evaluated on color change, set recovery (wet and dry), pull-off strength, and delamination. Eucalyptus nitens showed excellent color stability under all conditions (ΔE*ab < 5), while Tasmanian oak exhibited significant darkening at 175°C (ΔE*ab 6.17–9.06). At 175°C and 37% compression, E. nitens responded more strongly, achieving a mean wet-use set recovery of 0.0%, compared with 2.7% for Tasmanian oak. Both species showed significantly improved dimensional stability at 37% compression ratio compared to 25%. The highest F -values observed for Eucalyptus nitens and Tasmanian oak were 25.36 and 17.91, respectively. Increased compression also improved pull-off strength in both species, but in Tasmanian oak, extractive migration at 175°C likely reduced coating adhesion. The densification process had minimal impact on bondability overall. However, a higher pressing temperature significantly reduced delamination in Tasmanian oak ( P -value 0.031), while showing negligible effect in Eucalyptus nitens . The results suggest that both Eucalyptus nitens and Tasmanian oak species were stable following the densification process and would make the densified wood serviceable under conditions in which the EMC does not exceed 17% if unprotected. Densification Dimensional stability Eucalyptus Adhesion Delamination Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 19 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in European Journal of Wood and Wood Products → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 15 May, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 15 May, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 13 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 08 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6624040","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":457184134,"identity":"b61f075d-882a-4c8e-8724-c7e533f323d0","order_by":0,"name":"Benoit Belleville","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Melbourne, VIC","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Benoit","middleName":"","lastName":"Belleville","suffix":""},{"id":457184137,"identity":"3a90f242-113c-4db8-b11a-53ab1373e14a","order_by":1,"name":"Kyra C. 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Despite their favourable physical and aesthetic properties, their relatively low density limits use to wood-chip production and minor interior applications. This study aimed to enhance the material properties of these species through thermo-mechanical densification. The effects of compression ratio, pressing time, and pressing temperature were evaluated on color change, set recovery (wet and dry), pull-off strength, and delamination. \u003cem\u003eEucalyptus nitens\u003c/em\u003e showed excellent color stability under all conditions (ΔE*ab \u0026lt; 5), while Tasmanian oak exhibited significant darkening at 175°C (ΔE*ab 6.17–9.06). At 175°C and 37% compression, \u003cem\u003eE. nitens\u003c/em\u003e responded more strongly, achieving a mean wet-use set recovery of 0.0%, compared with 2.7% for Tasmanian oak. Both species showed significantly improved dimensional stability at 37% compression ratio compared to 25%. The highest \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e-values observed for \u003cem\u003eEucalyptus nitens\u003c/em\u003e and Tasmanian oak were 25.36 and 17.91, respectively. Increased compression also improved pull-off strength in both species, but in Tasmanian oak, extractive migration at 175°C likely reduced coating adhesion. The densification process had minimal impact on bondability overall. However, a higher pressing temperature significantly reduced delamination in Tasmanian oak (\u003cem\u003eP\u003c/em\u003e-value 0.031), while showing negligible effect in \u003cem\u003eEucalyptus nitens\u003c/em\u003e. The results suggest that both \u003cem\u003eEucalyptus nitens\u003c/em\u003e and Tasmanian oak species were stable following the densification process and would make the densified wood serviceable under conditions in which the EMC does not exceed 17% if unprotected.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Effect of a thermo-mechanical densification process on selected properties of densified wood of Tasmanian oak and Eucalyptus nitens","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-23 06:51:00","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6624040/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-05-15T15:08:43+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-05-15T14:28:26+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-05-13T14:55:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"European Journal of Wood and Wood Products","date":"2025-05-09T01:14:57+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"european-journal-of-wood-and-wood-products","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"harw","sideBox":"Learn more about [European Journal of Wood and Wood Products](http://link.springer.com/journal/107)","snPcode":"107","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/107/3","title":"European Journal of Wood and Wood Products","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5e4cecfb-f14d-46bf-bd0c-289cd5f2b380","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 23rd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-08-07T07:12:55+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6624040","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-025-02289-x","journal":{"identity":"european-journal-of-wood-and-wood-products","isVorOnly":false,"title":"European Journal of Wood and Wood Products"},"publishedOn":"2025-07-19 15:57:21","publishedOnDateReadable":"July 19th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-23 06:51:00","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s00107-025-02289-x","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-025-02289-x","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6624040","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6624040","identity":"rs-6624040","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}