Acetylation of wood: understanding the risk of de-acetylation during exposure to elevated temperature

Acetylation is a breakthrough in wood modification and has been established on industrial scale. However, concerns have been raised regarding the stability of acetylated wood under elevated temperatures, particularly during post hot-pressing processes to manufacture products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL). At around 150 °C, the added acetyl groups might cleave off (“de-acetylation”) and by that release sorption sites for water. This would increase the moisture uptake of the modified wood. In this study, the impact of hot-pressing at 150 °C on the stability of acetylated beech veneers and LVL was investigated. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed that the chemical composition of acetylated veneers seemed to be unaffected after the heat treatment. Dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) analysis and long-term storing over saturated salt-solutions in miniature climate chambers, indicated no de-acetylation on the basis of negligible changes in wood-water interactions. The number of hydroxyl groups of heat-treated acetylated samples was similar to that of not heat-treated ones, indicating the persistence of the effects of acetylation. By the present study, a certain resilience of acetylated wood towards elevated temperature, like it may occur during hot-pressing of acetylated veneers, became apparent and illustrated the thermal stability of this chemical modification approach.