Recent Advances in Wood Identification, Evaluation and Modification

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Wood Science and Forest Products".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2024 | Viewed by 3692

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Romanian Academy, 700487 Iasi, Romania
Interests: thermal and chemical modification of wood; degradation processes affecting historic wood; the effect of different degradative factors and the degradation/ageing mechanisms involved in wood degradation; formulations with superhydrophobic and antibacterial properties for wood; wood-based products and other organic substrate protection; cellulose nanocrystals, lignin nanoparticles and silica based nano-composites; pickering emulsion polymerization
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Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Gipuzkoa, University of the Basque Country, Plaza Europa 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Interests: biomass biorefinery; wood based products; biobased composites; nanocellulose modification; lignin; lignin nanoparticles; coating formulation; LCA
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Post-Graduate Program in Materials Science and Engineering, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas 96010-290, Brazil
Interests: wood treatment; wood modification; wood based products; wood properties; biomass biorefinery; biomass liquefaction; bioextracts; wood anatomy identification

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to its unique properties, wood remains one of the most important renewable resources to fulfil increasing demands for sustainable, carbon-storing construction materials, in addition to being a valuable material in many other applications. In civil construction, this material stands out because it has an excellent relationship between mechanical strength and density compared to other construction materials (e.g., concrete, steel). Used in other applications, wood is preferred to other materials due to its aesthetic and other properties. Wood has also inspired many researchers to use its structure as a model to create advanced bio-based materials for a variety of applications. In addition to being a renewable and sustainable source of energy and material (e.g., pulp), wood, due to its chemical composition and hierarchical structure, offers great possibilities for functionalization through various modifications in order to achieve advanced bio-based materials with specific and complex property profiles and significantly improved characteristics that further broaden its application.

The identification of new features and properties of wood, as well as the evaluation of structural modifications during treatments, are important aspects which need to be considered when working with wood. This Special Issue, “Recent Advances in Wood Identification, Evaluation and Modification”, plans to provide an overview of the most recent developments and research activities on identification of wood and new features of wood obtained using advanced research methods and presenting new approaches, manuscripts describing the evaluation of wood structure and properties, as well as those covering wood modification (thermal, chemical, combined processes, impregnation or surface modification) in order to improve some aspects of wood or to give wood new functions. We encourage authors to contribute research and review papers that address these aspects. Case studies and monitoring reports are also welcomed.

Dr. Carmen-Mihaela Popescu
Dr. Jalel Labidi
Prof. Dr. Darci Alberto Gatto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wood identification
  • new features and properties
  • structural evaluation
  • modification techniques
  • advanced research methods

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 6392 KiB  
Article
Macroscopic and Microscopic Anatomical Characteristics of Six Korean Oak Species
by Alvin Muhammad Savero, Jong-Ho Kim, Byantara Darsan Purusatama, Denni Prasetia, Imam Wahyudi, Apri Heri Iswanto, Byung-Ho Park, Seung-Hwan Lee and Nam-Hun Kim
Forests 2023, 14(12), 2449; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14122449 - 15 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 889
Abstract
The macroscopic and microscopic anatomical characteristics of wood impact its utilization. This study investigated and compared the anatomical characteristics of six Korean oak wood species: Quercus variabilis, Quercus serrata, Quercus mongolica, Quercus dentata, Quercus aliena, and Quercus acutissima [...] Read more.
The macroscopic and microscopic anatomical characteristics of wood impact its utilization. This study investigated and compared the anatomical characteristics of six Korean oak wood species: Quercus variabilis, Quercus serrata, Quercus mongolica, Quercus dentata, Quercus aliena, and Quercus acutissima. Microscopic anatomical characteristics were evaluated according to the International Association of Wood Anatomists’ list for hardwood identification. Q. variabilis had a corky bark texture, with a color similar to that of Q. serrata. Flat ridges and shallow-fissured barks were observed in Q. serrata and Q. mongolica. The heartwood color was darker than that of sapwood in all species, with color variations. Q. variabilis had heartwood–sapwood colors similar to those of Q. acutissima, while Q. mongolica and Q. aliena presented similar heartwood–sapwood colors. Concerning microscopic features, Q. variabilis and Q. acutissima exhibited similar latewood vessel arrangements, featuring diagonal and/or radial patterns. In contrast, dendritic-to-diagonal patterns of vessels with angular outlines were observed in Q. serrata, Q. mongolica, Q. dentata, and Q. aliena. Additionally, Q. variabilis and Q. acutissima had vasicentric, confluent, and unilateral paratracheal axial parenchyma in the latewood. In summary, bark morphology, bark color, wood color, and latewood vessel characteristics can be used as identification keys for Korean oak species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Wood Identification, Evaluation and Modification)
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11 pages, 5202 KiB  
Article
Identification of Eight Pterocarpus Species and Two Dalbergia Species Using Visible/Near-Infrared (Vis/NIR) Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI)
by Xiaoming Xue, Zhenan Chen, Haoqi Wu, Handong Gao, Jiajie Nie and Xinyang Li
Forests 2023, 14(6), 1259; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14061259 - 17 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1231
Abstract
Pterocarpus santalinus is considered among the finest luxury woods in the world and has potential commercial and medicinal value. Due to its rich hue and high price, Pterocarpus santalinus has often been substituted and mislabeled with other woods of lower economic value. To [...] Read more.
Pterocarpus santalinus is considered among the finest luxury woods in the world and has potential commercial and medicinal value. Due to its rich hue and high price, Pterocarpus santalinus has often been substituted and mislabeled with other woods of lower economic value. To maintain the order of the timber market and the interests of consumers, it is necessary to establish a fast and reliable method for Pterocarpus species identification. In this study, wood samples of Pterocarpus santalinus and nine other wood samples commonly used for counterfeiting were analyzed by visible light/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) hyperspectral imaging (HSI). The spectral data were preprocessed with different algorithms. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied in different spectral ranges: 400~2500 nm, 400~800 nm, and 800~2500 nm. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and square support vector machine (SVM) modeling methods were performed for effective discrimination. The best classification model was SVM combined with a normalization preprocessing method in whole spectral range (400~2500 nm), with prediction accuracy higher than 99.8%. The results suggest that the use of Vis/NIR-HSI in combination with chemometric approaches can be used as an effective tool for the discrimination of Pterocarpus santalinus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Wood Identification, Evaluation and Modification)
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11 pages, 3434 KiB  
Article
Genetic Species Identification Using ycf1b, rbcL, and trnH-psbA in the Genus Pinus as a Complementary Method for Anatomical Wood Species Identification
by Minjun Kim and Tae-Jong Kim
Forests 2023, 14(6), 1095; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14061095 - 25 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1065
Abstract
This study proposes the use of genetic analysis as a complementary method for species identification in the genus Pinus, particularly in cases where anatomical identification is challenging. Pinus species were grouped based on anatomical similarities, and the efficacy of using ycf1b, [...] Read more.
This study proposes the use of genetic analysis as a complementary method for species identification in the genus Pinus, particularly in cases where anatomical identification is challenging. Pinus species were grouped based on anatomical similarities, and the efficacy of using ycf1b, which is the most variable for Pinus species identification, and rbcL, which is a suggested DNA barcode for land plants, was evaluated within each group. Sequences for each species were obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information database and were used to perform phylogenetic analysis. Among the species in Group 1 (P. echinata, P. elliottii, P. ponderosa, P. radiata, P. rigida, P. taeda, and P. virginiana), rbcL was only effective in identifying P. radiata and P. ponderosa, while ycf1b classified five species. An additional DNA barcode, trnH-psbA, was needed to identify P. radiata and P. taeda. In Group 2 (P. densiflora, P. sylvestris, and P. thunbergii), most species were identified using both rbcL and ycf1b, with the exception of possible hybrids of P. densiflora and P. sylvestris. In Group 3 (P. koraiensis and P. strobus), two species were identified using rbcL and ycf1b. Combining genetic species identification with anatomical identification can accurately identify species of the genus Pinus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Wood Identification, Evaluation and Modification)
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