Colloid chemical aspects accelerated artificial petrification of wood

Abstract

Abstract The paper describes various approaches to increasing the processing efficiency of coniferous wood with a partially soluble organo-mineral suspension for the manufacture of artificially petrified wood. The suspension was prepared by grinding the polymineral river sand from the Krasnoflotsky West deposit (Arkhangelsk region) and then mixing it with a solution of arabinogalactan. Standard samples (20x20x30 mm) of wood were immersed in the suspensions for 24 hours, after which they were taken out, dried and weighed. The processing efficiency was evaluated by increasing the density of the samples due to the filling of the wood matrix with silica (excluding arabinogalactan). The influences of the concentration of components, size characteristics and zeta-potential of the surface of silica particles on the increase in the density of samples were studied. It was confirmed that arabinogalactan promotes deeper penetration of silica particles into wood, which leads to a greater increase in density (up to 9% per treatment). It was also found that a decrease in the size of silica particles from 243 nm to 163 nm, as well as increasing the zeta potential from -30 mV to -45 mV, do not lead to a significant increase in the density of the samples.