Wood stabilization

Treatment of wood to improve properties

Wood stabilization is a series of processes which use pressure and/or vacuum to impregnate wood cellular structure with certain monomers, acrylics, phenolics or other resins to improve dimensional stability and/or material properties. When exposed to moisture through humidity absorption or direct immersion, most wood species will expand and change shape. When moisture comes into contact with wood, the water molecules penetrate the cell wall and become bound to cell wall components through hydrogen bonding. With addition of water to the cell wall, wood volume increases nearly proportionally to the volume of water added. Swelling increases until the fiber saturation point has been reached. Wood stabilization limits water absorption into the wood structure, thereby limiting the dimensional changes which arise from moisture exposure.

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