Microwave and Radio-Frequency Technologies in Agriculture

21 Wood Modification

Throughout history, wood has been used for the construction of homes and other structures, furniture, tools, vehicles, and decorative objects. Wood is used to produce a variety of products, including cut and dressed poles, sawn and dressed planks, veneers, laminated products, particleboard, fiberboard, paper and cardboard.

The anatomy and growth behaviour of trees clearly influences the properties and behaviour of wood. A cross section of a tree trunk (Figure 21.1) shows the well defined features of most trees (Forest Products Laboratory 1999):

1.bark, which may be divided into an outer corky dead part, whose thickness varies greatly with species and age of trees, and an inner thin living part, which carries food from the ...