Properties and chemical changes of surface densified wood

Recently it has been discovered that only surface of solid wood can be densified using friction. It has been seen that the hardness of the surface can be increased significantly. This paper reports on the latest progresses made in the chemistry and Wetting behaviour of surface densified wood, which were investigated using FT-IR spectroscopy and contact angle analyses. FT-IR indicated that no significant chemical changes took place during the densification process. However, the wettability of the densified surfaces was significantly lower than unmodified surfaces, which means that water does not penetrate inside the wood.