Applications of IR Spectrum Measurement in Wood Research

The chapter presents the possible usages of infrared spectrumInfrared spectrum measurement in wood research. These spectra provide information about the chemical changes generated by different treatments. A detailed discussion of the chemical changes generated by steamingSteaming and by photodegradationPhotodegradation can be found in this chapter. Experimental results demonstrate that the difference spectrumDifference spectrum can show the positions of absorption maxima in the fingerprint region more precisely than the initial absorbance spectrum. The change of IR spectrum demonstrates that deacetylationDeacetylation is the main chemical change during steamingSteaming. The photodegradationPhotodegradation effect of different artificial light sourcesLight source are compared to the effect of sun radiationSun radiation. The effect of such influencing parameters as temperature, air relative humidity and leaching effect of rain during photodegradationPhotodegradation are also followed by IR spectrum measurement. Detailed discussion of these influencing processes can be found in this chapter. Behaviour of steamed wood samples during photodegradationPhotodegradation can be determined by IR absorbance measurement. The results show that steamingSteaming reduces the susceptibility to photodegradationPhotodegradation only for black locustBlack locust wood and the protective effect increases with rising steamingSteaming temperature.