Comparison of mechanical properties of heat treated beech wood cured under nitrogen or vacuum

According to these results, the aim of this short paper is to report the effect of vacuum versus nitrogen on the mechanical properties of heat treated samples making the assumption that lower degradation of wood polysaccharides during treatment performed under vacuum may reduce the weakening of mechanical properties. For this purpose, modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) in bending and Brinell hardness (HB) were determined. Results show that the mechanical properties were lower degraded in the case of wood samples treated under vacuum.