PLYWOOD PRODUCTION RELIES ON PHENOL-FORMALDEHYDE (PF), WHICH IS WHY BIO-BASED WOOD ADHESIVES (BBWAS) WERE DEVELOPED AS POTENTIAL REPLACEMENTS, SHOWING PROMISING RESULTS IN SEVERAL TESTS PERFORMED. A CONTROL SAMPLE (PLY-C) WITH PF AND TWO SAMPLES (PLY-1 AND PLY-2) WITH BBWA WERE MANUFACTURED, ON WHICH PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, ADHESIVE BONDING MORPHOLOGY, FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS, AND ACCELERATED UV AGING WERE EVALUATED. THE ADHESIVE PENETRATION RESULTS, INTO THE WOOD CELLS, WERE ACCORDING TO THE VISCOSITY OF EACH ADHESIVE. ABOUT THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, THE SAMPLE PLY-2 PRESENTED THE SAME MOE AND TENSILE STRENGTH AS THE SAMPLE PLY-C AND REACHED 87% OF THE SAMPLE PLY-C MOR IN THE PARALLEL DIRECTION. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE SAMPLE PLY-1 PRESENTED THE SAME BEHAVIOR IN THE JANKA HARDNESS TEST AS THE SAMPLE PLY-C. ALL THE SAMPLES SUBJECTED TO SHEAR STRENGTH TESTS MET THE REQUIREMENT, AND THE SAMPLES PLY-1 AND PLY-2 REACHED 68% AND 80% OF THE PLY-C SAMPLE, RESPECTIVELY. THE SAMPLES MANUFACTURED WITH BBWA PRESENTED A DECREASE IN FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS BY 88% AND THEY WERE LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO COLOR CHANGE THAN THE CONTROL SAMPLE UNDER UV AGING. ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS OBTAINED, IT IS CONCLUDED THAT PLYWOOD MANUFACTURED WITH BBWA MIGHT BE A CONSIDERABLE REPLACEMENT FOR PLYWOOD MANUFACTURED WITH PF ADHESIVES AT A LABORATORY SCALE.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AND THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE POPULATION'S HEALTH HAS LED TO RESEARCH INTO DIFFERENT WAYS OF MITIGATING HARMFUL GASES. AMONG THE EMISSIONS THAT THE WOOD INDUSTRY HAS SOUGHT TO REDUCE ARE THOSE OF FORMALDEHYDE, WHICH IS WHY NEW GREEN ADHESIVE METHODS FOR WOOD PANELS HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATED IN RECENT YEARS. IN THIS RESEARCH, PARTICLEBOARD WITH TWO BIO-BASED WOOD ADHESIVE (PB-BBWA) FORMULATIONS. THE FIRST PB-BBWA FORMULATION, BASED ON PROTEINS OBTAINED FROM COMPOUNDS FROM THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE INDUSTRY, AND THE SECOND PB-BBWA FORMULATION, BASED ON PROTEINS FROM A MIXTURE OF COMPOUNDS FROM THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE AND FOOD INDUSTRIES, WERE MANUFACTURED AND TESTED TO EVALUATE THE PHYSICAL?MECHANICAL, THERMAL AND FORMALDEHYDE EMISSION PROPERTIES OF UNTREATED AND UV-TREATED FORMULATIONS AT A LABORATORY SCALE. THE RESULTS OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OBTAINED IN THE PB-BBWA WERE SIMILAR OR EVEN BETTER THAN THOSE OF THE CONTROL PB. ADDITIONALLY, PB-BBWAS IMPROVE ON THE CONTROL PB SAMPLE?S JANKA HARDNESS BY LEAST 28%, AND A DECREASE IN THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY IN THE EDGEWISE POSITION AND FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS BY 12% AND 88%, RESPECTIVELY, IN COMPARISON TO THE CONTROL PB. THE TESTS PERFORMED EVIDENCED THAT PB-BBWAS SHOWED COMPARABLE PERFORMANCE AGAINST THE CONTROL PB MADE WITH UREA-FORMALDEHYDE AND SATISFIED INTERNATIONAL STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.

THIS STUDY AIMED TO REINFORCE A POLYVINYL ACETATE-D3 (PVAC-D3) ADHESIVE TO IMPROVE ITS MECHANICAL AND THERMAL PROPERTIES. THE GOAL WAS TO REACH A POLYVINYL ACETATE-D4 (PVAC-D4) ADHESIVE PERFORMANCE THAT COULD MAKE PVAC-D3 MORE ATTRACTIVE AND ADD VALUE TO WOOD PRODUCTS. PVAC-D3 WAS MODIFIED BY ADDING 0.05% AND 0.5% (WT.) OF MULTI-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBE PARTICLES (MWCNTS) AS WELL AS 0.5% AND 2.5% (WT.) OF LIGNOSULFONATE (LIGNO) PARTICLES. ADHESIVE BLENDS WERE COMPARED TO NEAT PVAC-D3 AND PVAC-D4, EVALUATING THEIR PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES. ALSO, THEY WERE ANALYZED USING FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY (FT-IR) AND MECHANICAL DYNAMIC ANALYSIS (DMA) WITH A STORAGE MODULE (E

LA ESPÉCIE PINUS RADIATA ES LA MÁS IMPORTANTE PARA LA INDUSTRIA MADERERA CHILENA POR SU COMERCIALIZACIÓN EN LA FORMA DE MADERA ASERRADA, DE MADERA TRANSFORMADA EN DIVERSOS TIPOS DE TABLEROS (PANELES DE PARTÍCULAS Y DE FIBRAS, MDF Y OSB) O DE MADERA LAMINADA ENCOLADA. DURANTE EL PROCESAMIENTO MECÁNICO DEL P. RADIATA SON GENERADOS VARIOS TIPOS DE RESIDUOS QUE NO HAN SIDO EXPLOTADOS HASTA AHORA DE UNA FORMA RACIONAL. CONSTITUYÓ EL OBJETIVO DE ESTE TRABAJO INVESTIGAR EL COMPORTAMIENTO MECÁNICO DE COMPUESTOS DE DOS TIPOS DE PARTÍCULAS DE P. RADIATA (ASERRÍN Y VIRUTAS) CON UN CEMENTO DE FRAGUADO RÁPIDO. VARIOS TRATAMIENTOS FISICO-QUIMICOS FUERAN APLICADOS A LAS PARTÍCULAS VEGETALES. EN UNA SEGUNDA INVESTIGACIÓN TAMBIÉN SE EVALUÓ EL EFECTO DE DOS OTROS TIPOS DE CEMENTO (SIDERÚRGICO Y PUZOLÁNICO) EN LA RESISTENCIA DEL COMPUESTO. DE ENTRE TODOS LOS TRATAMIENTOS APLICADOS A LOS RESIDUOS VEGETALES, LOS RESULTADOS OBTENIDOS INDICARAN EL EFECTO MÁS EFECTIVO DEL CLORURO DE CALCIO (AL 2% CON RELACIÓN A LA MASA DE CEMENTO) PARA LOS TRES TIPOS DE CEMENTOS. CONFIRMANDO LOS DATOS DISPONIBLES EN LA LITERATURA, EL CEMENTO DE FRAGUADO RÁPIDO FUE MÁS EFECTIVO EN NEUTRALIZAR LA ACCIÓN DE LAS SUSTANCIA INHIBITORIAS DE LA MADERA QUE LOS CEMENTOS SIDERÚRGICO Y PUZOLÁNICO.

THE CLT MARKET IS QUICKLY GROWING AND DEVELOPING IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE WORLD. HOWEVER, THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION ARE HIGHLY CONCENTRATED IN CENTRAL EUROPE (AUSTRIA, GERMANY, ITALY, AND SWITZERLAND). DUE TO THE ELEVATED LEVELS OF PERSONALIZATION REQUIRED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, THE CLT MANUFACTURING PROCESS INVOLVES COSTLY AND SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT THAT REPRESENTS AN ENTRY BARRIER FOR DOMESTIC PRODUCERS IN MARKETS WHERE THE DEMAND IS SMALL AND INCIPIENT. THIS WORK DISCUSSES A PRODUCTION MODEL AND SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLT INDUSTRY IN EMERGING ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE PRODUCT AND ITS PROPERTIES ARE NOT WELL-KNOWN. FURTHERMORE, A COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IS PERFORMED FOR THREE SMALL CAPACITY MILLS DESIGNED ACCORDING TO SMES CAPABILITIES. FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT CLT MANUFACTURING WITH LOW-CAPACITY PLANTS (LESS THAN 10,000 M3/YR) IS PROFITABLE BUT HIGH LEVELS OF INTEGRATION ARE REQUIRED. THE MOST INFLUENTIAL VARIABLES IN THE ECONOMIC RESULTS ARE THE LUMBER COST AND PRODUCTION VOLUME; THEREFORE, SPECIAL ATTENTION MUST BE PAID TO THE EFFICIENCY OF THE PROCESS. DESPITE THE SMALL SIZE OF THE STUDIED PLANTS PROMOTED BY THE PROPOSED PRODUCTION AND PLANT DESIGN MODEL, THE SALE PRICE IS ATTRACTIVE AND COMPETITIVE.

WOOD IS A GREAT MATERIAL, IT HAS A DISADVANTAGE OF EARLY DETERIORATION DUE TO EXTERNAL AGENTS. FOR THIS REASON, IT IS INTERESTING TO CREATE A NEW WOODEN PRESERVATIVE. IT WAS STUDIED ONE BASED ON A NATURAL POLYMER (CHITOSAN) AND NANOPARTICLES (SI AND TI). TESTS WERE CARRIED OUT TO CHARACTERIZE PHYSICAL (DENSITY, MOISTURE CONTENT, SWELLING AND ABSORPTION) AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES (FLEXION, COMPRESSION AND HARDNESS) OF WOOD SPECIMENS WITH AND WITHOUT IMPREGNATION, AND THEIR JOINTS WITH TWO TYPES OF SELF-DRILLING SCREWS. SIMPLE AND LATERAL EXTRACTION TEST WERE CARRIED OUT. IMPROVEMENTS IN HARDNESS AND PERPENDICULAR COMPRESSION ARE HIGHLIGHTED OBTAINED, RESULTS INDICATE A STIFFENING OF THE FIBERS. THIS TREATMENT ACHIEVES THE MATERIAL CROSS SECTION HARDENING, COATING IT WITH COMPONENTS THAT HELP TO DELAY THE IGNITION AND PROVIDE GREATER DURATION AGAINST EXTERNAL AGENTS. FROM THE EXTRACTION OF SCREWS, THE IMPREGNATED WOOD ALLOWED MORE RIGID UNIONS, WITH SMALLER DISPLACEMENTS IN COMPARISON TO THE WOOD WITHOUT TREATMENT.

THE PRESENT STUDY EXAMINES THE SUITABILITY OF PARTICLEBOARD MADE FROM GROUND MACADAMIA NUT SHELLS BONDED WITH CASTOR OIL DERIVED RESIN AS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR CONVENTIONAL WOOD FIBER/UREA FORMALDEHYDE PARTICLEBOARDS. THE PROPERTIES OF THE MACADAMIA SHELL CASTOR OIL RESIN PARTICLEBOARD WERE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF A WOOD FIBER/CASTOR OIL RESIN PARTICLEBOARD AND A CONVENTIONAL WOOD FIBER/UREA FORMALDEHYDE PARTICLEBOARD. THE DENSITY OF THE MACADAMIA SHELL PARTICLEBOARD WAS 43% HIGHER THAN THAT OF ITS WOOD FIBER COUNTERPART, IN KEEPING WITH THE HIGHER DENSITY OF THE MACADAMIA SHELLS. WATER ABSORPTION AND WATER-INDUCED SWELLING WERE MUCH LOWER IN THE MACADAMIA SHELL PARTICLEBOARD, BEING ONLY ONE QUARTER OF THE VALUE OBTAINED FOR THE WOOD FIBER PARTICLEBOARD. THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH THE LOWER MOISTURE ABSORPTION REPORTED PREVIOUSLY FOR MACADAMIA SHELLS. THE INTERNAL BOND STRENGTH WAS SIMILAR FOR THE MACADAMIA SHELL AND WOOD FIBER PARTICLEBOARDS BONDED WITH CASTOR OIL BASED POLYURETHANE. THE MODULUS OF RUPTURE AND MODULUS OF ELASTICITY WERE HOWEVER ABOUT 50% LOWER FOR THE MACADAMIA SHELL PARTICLEBOARD THAN FOR ITS WOOD FIBER COUNTERPART. THIS IS CONSIDERED TO BE DUE, AT LEAST IN PART, TO THE LOWER CELLULOSE CONTENT OF MACADAMIA SHELLS.............

THIS STUDY AIMED TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF PEACH STONE PARTICLES (PSP) AND CHERRY STONE PARTICLES (CSP) TO MANUFACTURE COMPOSITE MATERIALS WITH A POLYPROPYLENE (PP) MATRIX. A STRONG GROWTH OF PROCESSED FRUIT INDUSTRY IN CHILE IN THE LATTER YEARS HAS GENERATED AN INCREASE OF SOLID WASTE. SOME OF THESE RESIDUES ARE STONES, STEMS, PEELS OR OTHERS. CONVERSELY, WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITES (WPC) ARE MATERIALS THAT HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET, OFFERING NEW ALTERNATIVES OF USE FOR LIGNOCELLULOSIC BY-PRODUCTS OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY. THE NOVEL COMPOSITES BASED IN PEACH STONES PARTICLES AND CHERRY STONE PARTICLES WERE COMPARED TO A WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITE MATERIAL MANUFACTURED WITH RADIATA PINE SAWDUST PARTICLES WITH A POLYPROPYLENE MATRIX (WSP-PP). THE CALORIMETRIC (DSC), THERMOGRAVIMETRIC (TGA) AND THERMOMECHANICAL (DMA) ANALYSIS, SHOWED THAT PROPERTIES OF PSP-PP AND CSP-PP COMPOSITE MATERIALS WERE SIMILAR TO WSP-PP. PSP-PP PRESENTED SIMILAR MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES TO WSP-PP, AND CSP-PP THE LOWEST ONES. THE PENETRATION OF THE POLYPROPYLENE MATRIX INTO THE PEACH STONE PARTICLES CLEARLY IMPROVED THE MECHANICAL ANCHORING BETWEEN PSP AND PP. THIS GOOD PERFORMANCE WOULD FAVOR THE USE OF BY-PRODUCTS OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY TO ELABORATE COMPOSITE MATERIALS. THE PROPERTIES OF THESE NEW COMPOSITE MATERIALS COULD BE IMPROVED BY ADDING COMPATIBILIZER AGENTS OR REINFORCEMENT FIBERS TO OBTAIN APPLICATIONS WITH AN ENHANCED MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE.

THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH AIMS TO EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF MANUFACTURING PARTICLEBOARDS BASED IN PINUS RADIATA D. DON (PC) AND EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS (EC) CAPSULES BONDED WITH A NATURAL OIL POLYURETHANE ADHESIVE (PU). THE PARTICLES OF PC AND EC WERE GROUND AND DRIED. PARTICLEBOARDS WERE MANUFACTURED WITH PC AND EC BONDED WITH A NATURAL OIL-BASED POLYURETHANE ADHESIVE (PC?PU AND EC?PU). BOARDS COMPOSED OF RADIATA PINE WOOD AND BIO BASED POLYURETHANE ADHESIVE (RP?PU) AND WITH RADIATA PINE WOOD BONDED WITH UREA FORMALDEHYDE RESIN (RP?UF) WERE MANUFACTURED AS REFERENCE SAMPLES. THE PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS WERE EVALUATED ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS. THE SUPERFICIAL MORPHOLOGY OF THE PARTICLEBOARDS WAS STUDIED THROUGH OPTICAL MICROSCOPY (OP) AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM). THE NOVEL PARTICLEBOARDS SHOWED HIGH RESISTANCE TO MOISTURE, LOW THICKNESS SWELLING AND A HIGH INTERNAL BOND STRENGTH, WHEN COMPARED WITH PARTICLEBOARDS MANUFACTURED WITH THE RADIATA PINE WOOD PARTICLEBOARDS BONDED WITH PU AND UF. FLEXURAL PROPERTIES IN THE NEW PARTICLEBOARDS WERE SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN THE FLEXURAL PROPERTIES OF THE REFERENCE SAMPLES RP?PU AND RP?UF, SINCE THE DISTRIBUTION AND GEOMETRY OF THE PARTICLES WERE DIFFERENT. THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH VALIDATE THE USE OF P. RADIATA D. DON CONES AND E. GLOBULUS CAPSULES, BONDED WITH A BIO-BASED POLYURETHANE ADHESIVE, FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF NOVEL PARTICLEBOARDS. THIS RESEARCH OPENS THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ALTERNATIVE USE FOR THE PINE CONES AND EUCALYPTUS CAPSULES AS A NEW PRIME SOURCE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PARTICLEBOARDS AND OTHER COMPOSITE MATERIALS.

IN THIS RESEARCH, THE USE OF PEACH PITS IN POLYPROPYLENE-BASED COMPOSITES HAS BEEN INVESTIGATED. SPECIMENS MANUFACTURED WITH 50% AND 60% PEACH PITS WERE EVALUATED AND COMPARED WITH A CONTROL SAMPLE MANUFACTURED WITH 60% RADIATA PINE WOOD AND POLYPROPYLENE. BOTH COMPOSITES FILLED WITH PEACH PITS PRESENTED IMPROVED PHYSICAL PROPERTIES, AND HIGHER POROSITY THAN RADIATA PINE WOOD-BASED COMPOSITES. IN ADDITION, THE PEACH PITS-BASED COMPOSITES SHOWED LOWER MECHANICAL PROPERTIES THAN THOSE MADE FROM PINE PARTICLES. THIS DIFFERENCE INCREASED WHEN ADDING HIGHER AMOUNTS OF PEACH PITS TO THE COMPOSITES. THE LOWER MECHANICAL PROPERTIES WERE ATTRIBUTED TO THE HIGHER AMOUNT OF EXTRACTIVES OF THE PEACH PITS COMPARED WITH PINEWOOD.

THE AIM OF THIS RESEARCH WAS STUDY OF POLYURETHANE (PUR), ISOCYANATE POLYMER EMULSIONS (EPI) AND MELAMINE-UREA-FORMALDEHYDE (MUF) ADHESIVES, ON THE BONDING PROPERTIES OF SOLID AND HOLLOW GLULAM BEAMS OF PINUS RADIATA. THE THERMOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS (DMA) OF THE ADHESIVES WAS CARRIED OUT TO EVALUATE THEIR STIFFNESS AND REACTIVITY. GLULAM BEAMS WERE EVALUATED BY A BENDING TEST. THE QUALITY OF THE BONDING WAS EVALUATED BY RESISTANCE TO SHEAR AND DELAMINATION. THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE BONDING WAS STUDIED BY MICROSCOPY. THE DMA STUDY SHOWED THAT THE MUF ADHESIVE HAD THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF STIFFNESS AND REACTIVITY. THE RESULTS OF THE BENDING TEST SHOWED THAT THE HIGHEST MODULUS OF RUPTURE RESULTS WERE OBTAINED IN SOLID AND HOLLOW LAMINATED BEAMS WITH MUF ADHESIVE, ACHIEVING INCREASES OF 30% OVER THE PUR ADHESIVE. THE LOWEST DELAMINATION RESULTS WERE OBTAINED IN SOLID GLULAM BEAMS WITH MUF AND EPI ADHESIVES, WHILE THE HIGHEST RESULTS WERE 32% AND 47% FOR THE PUR ADHESIVE. FINALLY, GLULAM BEAMS MANUFACTURED WITH MUF ADHESIVE PRESENTED THE BEST PERFORMANCE AND RESULTS.

NOWADAYS, THERE IS GREAT INTEREST IN DEVELOPING ADHESIVES THAT DO NOT GENERATE FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK WAS TO PREPARE ADHESIVES BASED ON YEAST PROTEIN EXTRACT FROM RHODOTORULA RUBRA (RR) TO MAKE PARTICLEBOARDS (PBS). THE ADHESIVES WERE CHARACTERIZED, AND THE PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE PBS WERE EVALUATED. THE RESULTS WERE COMPARED WITH THOSE OBTAINED USING A COMMERCIAL UREA-FORMALDEHYDE ADHESIVE (UF). ADHESIVES VISCOSITY VARIED FROM 420 TO 600 CP, WITH PH RANGING FROM 4.35 TO 4.73, AND SOLID CONTENT OF AROUND 50%. THE UF HAD A VISCOSITY OF 305 CP, PH OF 7.53 AND SOLID CONTENT OF AROUND 65%. DYNAMIC MECHANICAL ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE WOOD-ADHESIVE USING PROTEIN EXTRACT RR WITH REINFORCING AGENT GAVE A GOOD PERFORMANCE AND STIFFNESS, COMPARABLE TO THAT USING UF. THE INTERNAL BOND STRENGTH VALUES OF PBS VARIED FROM 0.36 TO 0.46 N/MM(2), WHILE SWELLING THICKNESS REACHED VALUES OF 24 AND 38%, RESPECTIVELY. DENSITY VALUES OF THE PBS FLUCTUATED BETWEEN 682 AND 693 KG/M(3). THE FORMALDEHYDE EMISSION OF THE PBS MANUFACTURED WITH RR EXTRACT BASED ADHESIVE HAD VALUES BETWEEN 0.2 AND 0.3 MG/100 G, WHILE FORMALDEHYDE EMISSION FOR UF PARTICLEBOARD WAS 6.8 MG/100 G. PROPERTIES OF THE PB MADE OF RR BASED ADHESIVES PRESENTED SIMILAR PROPERTIES TO PARTICLEBOARD MANUFACTURED WITH UF, BUT WITH LOWER LEVEL OF FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS. THE RESULTS FROM THIS RESEARCH VALIDATE THE MANUFACTURE OF PARTICLEBOARDS WITH RHODOTORULA RUBRA YEAST PROTEIN EXTRACT BASED ADHESIVES. THESE PBS MAY HAVE THE SAME APPLICATIONS AS THE TRADITIONAL PBS, WITH THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING ABLE TO FULFILL THE HIGH STANDARDS OF FORMALDEHYDE EMISSION DEMANDED BY THE SUSTAINABLE MARKET.

GLOBAL POLLUTION HAS CAUSED A REAL INTEREST ON THE USE OF BIODEGRADABLE MATERIALS TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. PLA AND PHB ARE INTERESTING MATERIALS DUE TO THEIR PROPERTIES AND THEIR BIODEGRADABILITY, AND THEIR BLENDS IN DIFFERENT RATIOS ARE PROPOSED IN THIS STUDY; ALSO, AG AND CU NANOPARTICLES WERE INCORPORATED TO OBSERVE POSSIBLE ENHANCES AND ADVANTAGES ON IT. BLENDS WERE CHARACTERIZED THROUGH FTIR, TGA, TENSILE, AND DMA TESTS. THEORETICALLY, RESULTS OBTAINED WERE COHERENT; FTIR SPECTRA SHOWED A CHARACTERISTIC BAND (AROUND 1740?CM-1) CORRESPONDING TO THE CARBONYL BOND AT DIFFERENT INTENSITIES FOR EACH BLEND WHICH IS AN EVIDENCE OF THE POLYMERS. LIKEWISE, TGA RESULTS SHOWED DIFFERENT MARKED DECOMPOSITION POINTS (EXCEPT FOR PLA/PHB 70/30), WHICH IS ANOTHER INDICATIVE PARAMETER. REGARDING TENSILE TESTS, PLA/PHB/NANOPARTICLE (NP) BLENDS SHOWED HIGHER YOUNG MODULUS VALUE ACTION IMPROVING EXPONENTIALLY SOME PROPERTIES AND THEY CAN ACT AS A POWERFUL COMPLEMENTARY COMPONENT EVEN IN SMALL AMOUNTS. THE NPS INCORPORATED EXHIBITED CLUSTERING DUE TO THE BLENDING PROCESS WITH RANGES FROM 93.24?NM FOR CU TO 123.71?NM FOR AG.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS ONE OF THE MAIN FACTORS INFLUENCING THE RESEARCH OF ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY MATERIALS. THIS IS WHY THE USE OF ENGINEERING FIBERS AS A REINFORCEMENT TECHNIQUE IN WOOD, IN ORDER TO INCREASE ITS MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, HAS RECENTLY BEEN INVESTIGATED. THIS RESEARCH PRESENTS THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF CARBON AND BASALT FIBER FABRICS AS A REINFORCEMENT FOR MICROLAMINATED RADIATA PINE WOOD PANELS AT A LABORATORY SCALE USING THE ADHESIVES EPOXY RESIN AND POLYVINYL ACETATE. TESTS WERE CARRIED OUT IN COMPARISON TO THE CONTROL BOARDS, RELATING THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OBTAINED IN TERMS OF THICKNESS SWELLING BY 48 H-WATER IMMERSION WITH A DECREASE OF 19% FOR THE POLYVINYL ACETATE AND CARBON FIBER MATRIX REINFORCEMENT, ABOUT THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES EVALUATED, A BETTER PERFORMANCE WAS OBTAINED FOR THE EPOXY RESIN AND CARBON FIBER MATRIX REINFORCEMENT AND IN TERMS OF FLEXURAL STIFFNESS AND STRENGTH (IN FLATWISE), TENSILE STRENGTH AND JANKA HARDNESS, WITH AN INCREMENT OF 31%, 38%, 56% AND 41%, RESPECTIVELY.

CURRENTLY, WOOD IS PRESENTED AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL BUILDING MATERIALS AND TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE. CHILE IS ONE OF THE EIGHT LARGEST WOOD PRODUCERS IN THE WORLD; THEREFORE, WOOD-BASED PRODUCTS ARE AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE. THE AIM OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO REINFORCE AT LABORATORY SCALE PLYWOOD PANELS WITH BASALT AND CARBON ENGINEER FIBERS USING EPOXY RESIN AND POLYVINYL ACETATE AS AN ADHESIVE SYSTEM TO IMPROVE THEIR PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES. THREE-POINT STATIC BENDING AND JANKA HARDNESS TESTS WERE CARRIED OUT. THE RESULTS SHOWED A BETTER PERFORMANCE IN THE REINFORCED BOARDS, WHICH SHOWED AN INCREASE IN MODULUS OF ELASTICITY (MOE) AND MODULUS OF RUPTURE (MOR) PROPERTIES IN THE PARALLEL DIRECTION OF ABOUT 48.2% AND 52.8%, RESPECTIVELY. ADDITIONALLY, FOR THE PERPENDICULAR DIRECTION, THERE WAS AN INCREASE OF 52.0% AND 102.9%, RESPECTIVELY. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER (FRP) PLYWOOD PANELS SHOWED AN INCREASE OF AT LEAST 37% ON THE JANKA HARDNESS PROPERTY, OBTAINING HIGHER RESULTS WITH THE POLYVINYL ACETATE (PVA) ADHESIVE. FINALLY, FRP?PLYWOOD, PVA?BF AND PVA?CF MAY BE A NEW OPTION FOR COMPOSITE WOOD MATERIALS, WITH THEIR DUCTILE BEHAVIOR AND SUPERIOR MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, ESPECIALLY IN THE PERPENDICULAR DIRECTION, WHERE THE INCREASES WERE GREATER THAN THOSE SHOWN IN UNREINFORCED PLYWOOD.

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION WAS MADE OF WOOD ADHESIVES BASED ON RHODOTORULA RUBRA YEAST PROTEIN EXTRACT REINFORCED WITH RESORCINOL AND GLYOXAL. ADHESIVES WERE PREPARED, CHARACTERIZED AND EVALUATED BY FT-IR AND DMA. THE SHEAR STRENGTH OF ADHESIVE BONDS, INCLUDING DRY AND WET STRENGTH, WAS ALSO EVALUATED. FT-IR SPECTRA OF ADHESIVES WITH REINFORCING AGENTS HAVE FUNCTIONAL GROUPS WHICH INCREASE THE REACTIVITY OF THE ADHESIVES. DMA RESULTS SHOWED THAT ADHESIVE WITH REINFORCING AGENTS HAD GOOD PERFORMANCE, COMPARABLE TO UF. THE SHEAR STRENGTH OF THE ADHESIVE UNDER HUMID AND DRY CONDITIONS INCREASED AND WAS SATISFACTORY. RESULTS INDICATED THAT YEAST PROTEIN EXTRACTS OF RHODOTORULA RUBRA REINFORCED WITH RESORCINOL AND GLYOXAL MAY BE USED IN THE WOOD ADHESIVES INDUSTRY.