Study on structural changes during preparing woodceramics from phenolic resin/basswood powder composite

A woodceramics was developed by carbonizing phenolic resin/basswood powder composite under vacuum at high temperatures. The effects of carbonization temperature and weight ratio of phenolic resin to wood powder on structural changes of woodceramics were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. Experimental results show that woodceramics has a topologically uniform interconnected porous network microstructure, and is typical nongraphitizable carbon containing C=C bonds, C-O-C bonds and C-H structure. With increasing carbonization temperature, the (002) peak becomes stronger, the (002) interplanar spacing decreases, and the dimensions of carbonized wood powder decrease, while the space between carbonized wood powders increases. The increasing weight ratio of phenolic resin to wood powder improves the forming ability of phenolic resin impregnated wood powders, and results in a more uniform microstructure, but there is a slight effect on the XRD pattern of the resulting woodceramics.