Bending Performance of Populus Deltoides Wood: Influence of Ammonia, Sodium Hydroxide, Temperature and Additives

Wood bending has a wide range of possible uses, such as in making bent furniture, musical instruments, and sporting goods. The study is centred on using a full factorial design of experiments to understand the main and interaction effects of factors like ammonia (20 % and 25 %), NaOH (2.5 % and 0 %), temperature (90 °C and room temperature), and additives (10 % polyethylene glycol (PEG) and 10 % fabric conditioner (FC) on the bending properties of Populus deltoides wood specimens of size 20.3 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm. Two levels of each factor were used to find the response to wood bending properties. Deflection to the load ratio (D/L) was evaluated for the treated specimens using a universal testing machine. The ease of bending, bending defects, and springback properties of bent wood were also evaluated. Results indicate that NaOH and temperature have significant influences on the D/L ratio and ease of bending. The bending defect was influenced not only by factors like use of NaOH and temperature but also by the interaction effect between ammonia-NaOH and NaOH-temperature. Although the effect of ammonia on wood bending was significant, no difference was found between the two ammonia concentrations (20 % and 25 %) on the bending properties of the wood. Factors such as FC and PEG did not exhibit any significant influences on wood bending properties. These findings suggest that focusing on factors like NaOH, temperature, and ammonia would be more effective in achieving the desired wood bending outcomes.