11271 Designing with Wood and Wood Composites

Starting from the premise of wood being an environmentally sustainable resource when grown under best management practice, this subject explores the advances that have occurred in wood technology and the consequent development of a whole series of new composite wood products progressively being integrated into the building industry. This development has been brought about by the escalating price and increasing scarcity of log and sawn timber resources from traditional supply areas, in particular the tropical hardwoods and selected softwoods such as western red cedar.

In addition to reviewing current supply and chain of custody issues, traditional kiln drying and reconstitution techniques, the subject reviews a range of novel wood modification techniques, which includes gaining an understanding of the structure of wood, heat treatment and microwave drying used to improve permeability in wood. The opportunities these new technologies present for the development of new composite products are covered along with new technologies for bending, forming, impregnating and mass customising timber components using the latest numerically controlled machine tools.