Research progress and prospects of wood high-temperature heat treatment technology

High temperature heat treatment is one of the main technologies with the highest market conversion rate and broad future prospects in the functional technology of wood. Chemical reagents are not added in the production process. The treatment improves the dimensional stability, biological durability, wood color, and acoustic properties without reducing the environmental performance of the product. However, there are some problems in heat treatment, such as the reduction of mechanical properties and surface wettability of wood, high production energy consumption, and large exhaust emissions. Therefore, understanding the influence and mechanism of high temperature heat treatment technology on wood properties is of guiding significance to further improve the quality of heat-treated wood, improve production process, and develop new equipment. This article reviews the effects of heat treatment on the properties of wood and the mechanism of heat treatment. Then, some applications of heat treatment of wood are introduced. Finally, the development direction and prospect of high temperature heat treatment technology in the future are forecasted.