School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Research Publications

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    Assessing the potential of hemp hurd (Cannabis sativa L.) for the production of environmentally friendly lightweight panels
    Fehrmann, J (The Industrial Hemp Western Australia Association Inc, 2020)
    Presentation prepared for the 2nd Australian Industrial Hemp Conference in Fremantle, WA from 25 -28 February 2020. Abstract and slides.
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    Furniture Production Efficiency in the Indonesian Context
    Prasetyo, V ; Belleville, B ; Ozarska, B (International Conference on Wood Science and Technology, 2018-10-16)
    Most efficiency improvement strategies implemented in furniture manufacturing are data-driven methods. Due to a lack of production systems used in most Indonesian small and medium-sized furniture companies, the evaluation of production efficiency for future improvement seems rather difficult to perform. A wide range of existing evaluation tools and the varying capabilities of the companies to adapt the methods contribute to a problematic evaluation process. Research has been undertaken with the aim to develop a generic efficiency evaluation method and to prioritise a new potential metric to assess and control efficiency in furniture manufacturing. A basic production cost analysis with standardized variables has been demonstrated as a typical method to evaluate production efficiency in multi furniture companies, followed by applying a wood recovery assessment, a Pareto analysis, an X-Y matrix, and process capability analysis. The heartwood proportion of teak (Tectona grandis) has been determined as a key potential efficiency metric to control and monitor teak sawn board quality and its utilisation. Applying process capability analysis with a setting of lower specification limits to the population of teak heartwood rates produces a model to simulate optimal teak utilisation.
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    Achieving Long-Term Adhesion and Bondline Durability with difficult-to-bond Australian Hardwoods Species
    LI, S ; Belleville, B ; Gutowski, M ; Kuys, B ; Ozarska, B (Society of Wood Science and Technology, 2018-07-25)
    Australia has unique resources of native hardwoods producing a range of aesthetically and structurally attractive timbers suitable for high-strength structural applications and other products for internal and external applications. Amongst problems limiting broader hardwoods applications is their excessive susceptibility to hydrothermal movements in response to changes in the atmospheric moisture. This, in turn, produces excessive interfacial stresses between hardwood surface and glues, resulting in fast degradation of adhesion in products exposed to weathering. A range of Australian hardwood species also suffers from poor adhesion due to high bulk phenolic and surface lipophilic extractive content as well as high density. Research has been undertaken with the aim to improve the performance, durability, and designs flexibility of hardwood-based components for outdoor and indoor applications. The method relies on the application of eco-sustainable water-based formulations of functional polymer and chemical additives overcoming the impact of extractives and facilitating chemical bonding of designated connector chains to cellulose constituents. To date, results of adhesion bonding tests have demonstrated a significant increase in shear strength, wood failure, and durability compared to unmodified samples of Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus pilularis, and Eucalyptus regnans. The results could potentially facilitate the effective transformation of the housing and construction industry by targeting drastically increased use of hardwoods by the rapidly developing Australian prefabricated housing and construction industry.
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    Quality assessment of Eucalyptus delegatensis dried in the solar kiln
    Phonetip, K ; Ozarska, B ; Belleville, B ; Brodie, G (IUFR, 2017)
    This research aimed to assess the timber quality of Alpine Ash known as Eucalyptus delegatensis dried in a solar kiln. The maximal temperature and relative humidity (RH) during daytime were set at 430C/72% RH and during the night time at ambient temperature (AmbT)/90% RH. The results showed that the humidity was not reached but all sample boards were under the acceptable limit of cupping, spring, and bow. However, the twist of three out of twelve sample boards was above the acceptable limit. The mean compressive strain was -2 x 10-4 mm/mm in the core layers and the tensile strain was 14 x 10-4 mm/mm in the outer layers. Mean moisture gradient was 0.6% MC between outer and inner layers. There was a significant difference in moisture content at end section compared to the front and middle sections. Internal checking, collapse, stress residual were graded as “C” based on Australian standard AS/NZS 4787:2001.
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    Potential of wood welding for Australian Eucalypts
    BELLEVILLE, B ; Ozarska, B ; Pizzi, A (IUFRO, 2017)
    The wood welding potential of three commercial Australian hardwood species has been investigated with the aim of bringing this fast assembling technique to an efficient manufacturing process for the production of high-value wood products. Optimal linear and rotational wood welding parameters were determined for Eucalyptus saligna, Eucalyptus pilularis and Corymbia maculata and different joining methods. The optimized parameters for each selected species and welding process were determined using an adapted tensile or shear strength test. The results confirmed the importance of density in the optimization process where the grain direction proved to have a significant impact on the welded joint strength. Some other anatomical features also showed to affect the mechanical properties of the welded joints. Energy consumption measurements provided useful information while appearing as an interesting non-destructive method to assess the weldline quality. Limiting factors which could have implications for future commercial applications have also been identified as part of the present study. Overall, wood welding of Australian hardwood species could be a suitable alternative for non-structural indoor applications where gluing is usually required.
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    Enhancing key elements of the value chains for plantation-grown wood in Lao PDR
    BELLEVILLE, B ; Ozarska, BO ; Siakor, L ; Boupha, L (5th International Scientific Conference on Hardwood Processing (ISCHP2015), 2015)