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US 12,011,845 B2Granted
Construction of structural materials from lumber using a carbonate or oxygen pre-treatment and densification
OwnerJunyong Zhu, Roland Gleisner +3inventors
InventorsJunyong Zhu, Roland Gleisner, Riley Simson, Jiaqi Dai, Yelizaveta Pikus
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Abstract
Methods for producing structural materials from lumber are provided. The methods use an oxygen pre-treatment or a carbonate pre-treatment followed by densification via thermal compression to produce structural materials with strong mechanical properties. The pre-treatments are able to partially delignify the lumber without substantially adversely affecting the mechanical properties of the subsequently densified wood.
Claims16
A method for producing a structural material from lumber, the method comprising:
- impregnating the lumber with an aqueous solution comprising a base by soaking the lumber in the aqueous solution comprising the base, whereby the aqueous solution comprising the base infiltrates the lumber, and then removing the lumber from the aqueous solution comprising the base;
- exposing the impregnated lumber to an environment having an oxygen partial pressure greater than that of ambient air at an elevated delignification temperature in a pressurized vessel to partially delignify the lumber;
- and
- compressing the lumber at an elevated compression temperature to densify the lumber.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.