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    Multicycle Wilhelmy Plate Method for Wetting Properties, Swelling and Liquid Sorption of Wood

    Year: 2013

    Journal: Langmuir, 2013, 29 (39), pp 12145–12153, 20131119

    Authors: Maziar Sedighi Moghaddam 1, Magnus E.P. Wålinder 2, Per M. Claesson 1 3, and Agne Swerin *1 3

    Organizations: 1 SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Chemistry, Materials and Surfaces, Box 5607, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden, 2 ‡ KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Building Materials, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden, 3 KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Surface and Corrosion Science, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

    A multicycle Wilhelmy plate method has been developed to investigate wetting properties, liquid sorption, and swelling of porous substrates such as wood. The use of the method is exemplified by studies of wood veneers of Scots pine sapwood and heartwood, which were subjected to repeated immersion and withdrawal in a swelling liquid (water) and in a nonswelling liquid (octane). The swelling liquid changes the sample dimensions during measurements, in particular its perimeter. This, in turn, influences the force registered. A model based on a linear combination of the measured force and final change in sample perimeter is suggested, and validated to elucidate the dynamic perimeter change of wood veneer samples. We show that pine heartwood and pine sapwood differ in several respects in their interaction with water. Pine heartwood showed (i) lower liquid uptake, (ii) lower swelling, (iii) higher contact angle, and (iv) lower level of dissolution of surface active components (extractives) than pine sapwood. We conclude that the method is also suitable for studying wetting properties of other porous and swellable materials. The wettability results were supported by surface chemical analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, showing higher extractives and lignin content on heartwood than on sapwood surfaces.