SUPERVISOR: Ulrich MÜLLER

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Christian HUBER 

Background:

From today's perspective, hardwood is used for thermal purposes rather than for technical construction. The reason is on the one hand the availability in quantity but also the knowledge about the respective use of the tree species. With the application and the required process steps in mind hardwoods are able to exceed softwoods. The specific end-use requirements need to be combined with the corresponding material properties. Therefore, this project aims to give an impulse for the higher quality use of different tree species, but on the other hand for the respective intended use. Therefore, it can be assumed that the prediction quality is also achievable for all other tree species. Completing the property profiles of a high number of wood species would help to improve the technical use of wood in general. In the course of this work, however, the recording of technological properties (e.g. density, strength, stiffness, dimensional stability) of different wood species is of primary interest in order to ensure not only the technical use but also the technological processability of the raw material.

Idea:

The dissertation addresses the potential impact of non-native but also non-potential natural tree species (e.g. Betula pendula, Robina pseudoacacia, Ailanthus altissima, Paulowina, Quercus cerris). As climatic conditions are going to be changed, a change in tree species composition will be established in the next decades. Thus, beside Norway Spruce (Picea abies) other tree species will become more important, which from today's point of view only play a minor role. With a better understanding of the inplay of silvicultural and resulting individual wood properties, a knowledge-based control of the material properties can be achieved both at management and performance level.

Outline:

In a first step, a detailed literature research based on this dissertation will be carried out. In this step, the wood-technological properties of the various deciduous tree species are to be filtered out. The aim is to determine which tree species could be suitable for further processing for various elements, for example in vehicle construction

The aim of further research work in this dissertation is primarily the technological processability of diffuse porous hardwoods. It will be investigated in which way wood quality but also the microscopic and hierarchical structure of the wood influences the processes. Through a mechanical and structural understanding of forming and shaping, the foundations for process adaptations and process developments are to be created.

Figure 1: Scheme of work packages (Illustration of the car from the current WoodC.A.R. project)