Consolidant Distribution in Deteriorated Wood Treated With Soluble Resins

Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the distribution of synthetic resin consolidants after treatment of deteriorated wood samples by vacuum impregnation. These resins included Butvar B98, Acryloid B72, and Butvar B90. After the samples had been completely saturated with consolidant, evidence of resin could be found throughout cross sections taken from them, although examination of the samples showed that the resin was not uniformly distributed. Most strikingly, some tracheids could be observed to have heavy deposits of resin, which in some cases completely filled the cell lumen, while adjacent tracheids contained litde or no resin. The percentage of earlywood tracheids with visible resin deposits in a given sample area was then used as an indicator of resin content. Results showed that there was greater concentration of resin in the surface layers of radial or tangential faces than in the specimen core, as well as a tendency toward increasing concentration toward the end surfaces.