Project Description
Project Overview: Wood is a hierarchical material with numerous structural features. It has been used as a building material for centuries and is still used in most buildings today. Engineers are reassessing the material properties of wood and looking at an option for high rise buildings. A 25-floor building is currently being built using wood as the primary building material in Milwaukee. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory desires to investigate a variety of wood samples maintains its structural integrity under excess heat. The team will analyze the structural changes in the wood’s polymeric structure after pyrolysis by using SEM microscopy, tensile strength, hardness and XRD of a variety of wood samples to compare the crystallinity of charred wood and non-charred wood. The team will develop a model to predict materials properties changes that occur within the wood as it converts to char.
Client: Dr. Sam Zelinka, Dr. Laura Hasburgh, Dr. Nayomi Plaza-Rodriguez, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI
Student Team: Aaron Applebee, Huck Boles, Mark Ordner, Charley Giese
