To meet an ever increasing demand for products made of wood, manufacturers of such products are often forced to resort to using wood produced from rapidly growing plantation trees (e.g., pine, ash, eucalyptus, Acacia). However, plantation wood (i.e., wood derived from a plantation tree) may have qualities that are unsuitable for manufacturing high quality wooden products. For example, wood derived from rapidly growing plantation trees may have decreased density, compressive strength, bending strength, or a combination thereof.
Current methods used to remedy these disadvantages includes chemical impregnation of a plantation wood's tissues with monomers followed by polymerization of the monomers inside the wood. The success of this process is limited as one cannot achieve complete polymerization of monomers inside a wood tissue. As a result monomers may evaporate resulting in undesirable consequences such as: foul or unpleasant odors; irritation of a users eyes, skin, or mucous membranes; and/or general harm to a user's health.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds