Browsing by Author "Hofmann, Klaus"
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- Longitudinal air permeability of lodgepole pineHofmann, Klaus (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1986)The longitudinal air permeabilities of the wood of 1116 specimens from 279 trees, two sapwood and two heartwood replicates, representing two varieties of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta, vars. latifolia and murrayana) were measured with a steady state apparatus. It was found that the mean ratio of sapwood to heartwood permeability was ca. 10:1 for both varieties. The mean ratio of var. latifolia to murrayana was 1.5:5 and 1.75:5 for sapwood and heartwood, respectively. The most important source of variation following the difference between heartwood and sapwood was that among trees. Geographical locations, such as latitude and elevation did not significantly influence permeability. Tree size did, but only because the small trees (3 inch diameter) showed higher heartwood permeability and lower sapwood permeability than normal. Ca. 20 specimens of latifolia heartwood showed extremely high permeabilities. They were also deeply brown in color, which probably was caused by fungal or bacterial infestation. Pit pore size and number per cm² were determined for sapwood by making four permeability measurements, each at a different average pressure on each specimen. A mean pit pore radius of 1.5 µm and 1.3 µm for sapwood of var. latifolia and var. murrayana was calculated. The median values between 1200-1300 pit pores per cm² indicate an average rate of tracheid connection of 1.2-1.3%. Of the tested wood parameters including moisture content and specific gravity average ringwidth, only the permeability of var. latifolia was significantly correlated with moisture content for both heartwood and sapwood, with a negative correlation coefficient. Water retention measurements were carried out to relate the measured gas permeability of an individual specimen to its ability to absorb water. For both varieties the retention was significantly and quadratically correlated with sapwood permeability (R² = 0.286 and 0.224) and was linearly correlated with heartwood permeability (R² = 0.488 and 0.5775). The correlation factors for the regression between retention and the logarithm of permeability were 0.239 and 0.227 for sapwood and 0.447 and 0.420 for heartwood.
- Synthesis, properties, and morphology of lignin based epoxy resinsHofmann, Klaus (Virginia Tech, 1991-05-05)Star-like lignin-poly(propylene oxide) copolymers were prepared by chain-extending steam exploded lignins (tulipifera liriodendron) with propylene oxide and by subsequent endcapping with ethylene oxide. Epoxidation of these copolymers was carried out with epichlorohydrin at room temperature, using KOH as oxyanion forming reagent. The epoxidized compounds were fractionated by solvent precipitation to remove poly(alkylene oxide) homopolymers and to prepare fractions of narrow molecular weight distributions. The epoxides were cross-linked with meta phenylene diamine yielding thermosets which were, depending on lignin content, either low modulus elastomers, or high modulus materials with considerable ductility. The modulus of elasticity was a strong and linear function of lignin content, whereby the highest value was 1100MPa (57% lignin). The curing reaction was of nth-order type, whereby the reaction order changed from close to one at the beginning of the curing reaction to 2, once the reaction becomes diffusion controlled. Curing induced partial demixing of the lignin and poly(propylene oxide) phases which yielded a secondary structure where lignin rich domains in the order of 10 nm were interspersed in a matrix of lignin poor material. However, from TEM and ¹³C solid state cross-polarized NMR analyses it was evident that the domain structure was not that of a classical micro-phase separated copolymer with well defined phase boundaries, but rather had broad interphases. Additionally, the results of multifrequency dynamic mechanical thermal analysis showed that the lignin containing thermosets have very broad glass transition ranges which most likely were due to transitional phase inhomogeneities and provided these materials with good vibrational damping ability.