CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Repository@USM IMPREGNATION OF OIL PALM TRUNK LUMBER (OPTL) USING THERM.OSET RESINS FOR STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS by CHE KU ABDULLAH BIN CHE KU ALAM Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 2010 \ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Alhamdulillah, a great thankful to The Great Almighty, Allah for the guidance and blessing until I accomplished my master project and thanks for my beloved family for their support and encouragement. Firstly, I would like to dedicate my appreciation and pay gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Abdul Khalil Shawkataly for his guidance, persistence encouragement and associated aid through this study. I would also like to express my sincere and affectionate thanks to my co-supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahamad Hakimi Ibrahim and all the staff of Bioresource, Paper and Coating Technology Division for their support, contribution and encouragement to me. Thanks to Lim Chin Joo Sawmill Sdn. Bhd for their contribution on lodging, cutting and drying of the oil palm trunk. A special dedication also goes for En. Abu, En. Raja and En. Farim who had helped me on the technical equipment and preparation of raw materials. Besides, thanks also to all my friends at USM who had share the precious moment together during this year. I really appreciate all the contribution that have been made and this master project had given me a lot of information and experience that I believe I cannot get it at somewhere else. Thank you very much. II TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENT iii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF ABBREVIATES xiv GLOSSARY XV ABSTRAK xvi ABSTRACT xviii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION I.I General I I.2 Objectives 4 1.3 Justification 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The oil palm 5 5 2.I.1 Introduction 8 2.2 Oil palm trunk 2.2.I General 8 10 2.3 Properties of oil palm trunk 10 2.3 .I Anatomy of oil palm trunk II 2.3 .1.1 Cortex, periphery and central 12 2.3.I.2 Vascular bundle lli 2.3 .1.3 Parenchyma tissue 13 2.3.2 Chemical composition of oil palm trunk 14 2.3.2.1 Cellulose 16 2.3.2.2 Hemicellulose 17 2.3.2.3 Lignin 18 2.3.2.4 Pectin and waxes 19 2.3.3 Physical properties of oil palm trunk 19 2.3.3.1 Moisture content 19 2.3.3.2 Density 20 2.3.3.3 Fiber dimension 22 2.3.4 Mechanical properties 24 2.4 Synthetic resin 25 2.4.1 Phenol formaldehyde 27 2.4.2 Urea formaldehyde 32 2.5 Drying 35 2.5.1 Kiln drying 37 2.5.2 Drying of oil palm trunk 38 2.6 Wood modification 39 40 2.6.1 Wood impregnation CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHOD 3.1 Materials 44 3 .1.1 Oil palm trunk 44 3.1.2 Resin 45 IV 3.2 Methodology 46 3.2.1 Oil palm trunk preparation 46 3.2.2 Oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL) impregnation technique 50 3.3 Physical properties 51 3.3.1 Macroscopic structures of oil palm trunk 51 3.3.2 Moisture content 52 3.3.3 Density 52 3.3.4 Water absorption and thickness swelling 53 3.4 Mechanical properties 54 3.4.1 Flexural test 54 3.4.2 Tensile test 55 3.4.3 Impact test 55 3.4.4 Compression test 55 3.5 Biodeterioration exposure 55 3.5.1 Investigation on the effect ofborer decaying activity 55 3.5.2 Investigation on the effect of termite decaying activity 56 3.6 Thermal analysis 56 3.6.1 Thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis 56 3.7 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 57 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Physical properties of green oil palm trunk 58 4.1.1 Moisture content of oil palm trunk 58 4.1.2 Density in different parts of oil palm trunk 59 v 4.2 Drying of oil palm trunk 61 4.2.1 Drying defects during kiln drying (schedule 4) 61 4.3 Macroscopic structures of dried oil palm trunk 64 4.4 Physical properties of impregnated oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL) 65 4.4.1 Moisture content of impregnated oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL) 65 4.4.2 Density of impregnated oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL) 66 4.4.3 Water absorption properties 67 4.4.4 Thickness swelling properties 71 4.5 Mechanical properties of impregnated oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL) 74 4.5.1 Flexural properties 74 4.5.1.1 Flexural strength 74 4.5.1.2 Flexural modulus 77 4.5.2 Tensile properties 80 4.5.2.1 Tensile strength 80 4.5.2.2 Tensile modulus 83 4.5.2.3 Elongation at break 85 4.5.3 Impact properties 87 4.5.3.1 Impact strength 87 4.5.4 Compression properties 90 4.5.4.1 Compression strength 90 4.6 Biodeterioration exposure 92 4.6.1 Wood boring decaying activity 92 4.6.2 Termite decaying activity 94 4. 7 Thermal study 99 VI 99 4.7 .1 Thermogravimetriv analysis (TGA) 4.8 Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) 104 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Conclusion 117 5.2 Recommendation 121 CHAPTER6:REFERENCE 121 APPENDIX A Data analysis APPENDIXB Journal accepted VII LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 2.1 Chemical composition of oil palm trunk 14 Table 2.2 Various chemical composition of oil palm trunk 15 i t I'l Table 2.3 Oil palm fiber dimension compared to Douglas fir and 23 rubberwood. I ! ' Table 3.1 Properties of resin phenol formaldehyde and urea formaldehyde 46 ' Table 3.2 Bulb temperature in kiln drying 49 Table 3.3 Schedule 4 for kiln drying process. 49 Table 4.1 Moisture Content of oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL). 65 Table 4.2 Moisture content of dried OPT and rubberwood. 65 Table 4.3 Thermal parameters for thermo grams of rubberwood and dried 101 OPT. Table 4.4 Thermal parameters for the thermo grams of OPTL in different 102 resin loading of phenol fo~maldehyde (PF) Table 4.5 Thermal parameters for the thermo grams of OPTL in different 103 UF resin loading. viii LIST OF FIGURES Pages Figure 2.1 25 years old oil palm tree 6 Figure 2.2 Replanting process 7 Figure 2.3 Oil palm trunk crosscut section 12 Figure 2.4 Structure of vascular bundle of oil palm wood at transverse 13 section detail with the existence of parenchymatous ground tissue, vessels, fibers and phloem. Figure 2.5 Molecular structure of cellulose 17 Figure 2.6 Building blocks of lignin 18 Figure 2.7 Schematic diagram of density variation in oil palm stem. 21 Figure 2.8 Polymerization and condensation of phenol formaldehyde 28 Figure 2.9 A possible novolak molecule structure. 29 Figure 2.10 A typical resole molecule structure. 30 Figure 2.11 Polymerization and condensation ofurea formaldehyde 33 Figure 2.12 Cupping formation ofk!ln dried OPT 38 Figure 2.13 Wavy formation of kiln dried 39 Figure 3.1 Harvesting oil palm tree 44 Figure 3.2 Oil palm trunk 45 Figure 3.3 Loading process 45 Figure 3.4 Cutting process 47 Figure 3.5 Taking out core part 47 Figure 3.6 Oil palm trunk classified in two different zones. 48 Figure 3.7 Size determination for impregnation process 48 Figure 3.8 Impregnation chamber 50 IX Figure 3.9 Oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL), (a) OPTL PF resin loading, 51 (b) OPTL UF resin loading. Figure 4.1 Moisture content in different p~s of oil palm trunk 58 Figure 4.2 Density in different parts of oil palm trunk 60 Figure 4.3 Drying defects on central region of OPT at crosscut and side 61 ' I view. (a) & (b) green OPT view, (c) & (d) kiln dried OPT. I Figure 4.4 Drying defects on peripheral region of OPT at crosscut and side 62 I , view. (a) & (b) Green OPT, (c) & (d) Kiln dried OPT. f ~ ;. Figure 4.5 Oil palm trunk surface at various section views (a) OPT view at 64 tangential surface; (b) OPT view at cross surface; (c) OPT view at radial surface. Figure 4.6 Density of Impregnated oil palm trunk lumber (OPTL), dried 66 OPT and rubberwood. Figure 4.7 Water absorption of OPTL at different PF resin loading, dried 68 OPT and rubberwood. Figure 4.8 Water absorption of OPTL at different UF resin loading, dried 69 OPT and rubberwood Figure 4.9 Thickness swelling ofOPTL at different PF resin loading, dried 71 OPT and rubberwood. Figure 4.10 Thickness swelling ofOPTL at different UF resin loading, dried 72 OPT and rubberwood. Figure 4.11 Flexural strength of the OPTL at different PF resin loading, 74 dried OPT and rubberwood. Figure 4.12 Flexural strength of the OPTL at different UF resin loading, 76 dried OPT and rubberwood. Figure 4.13 Flexural modulus of the OPTL at different PF resin loading, 77 dried OPT and rubberwood. X