Flooring characteristics of thermo-mechanical densified wood from three hardwood tropical species in Costa Rica

Densification is one method used to modify low-density woods to make them achieve the hardness required for flooring application. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of thermo-mechanical densification with pre-heating in wood of Alnus acuminata, Vochysia ferruginea and Vochysia guatemalensis from, seeking to stabilize and reduce spring-back of the densified wood and evaluate its performance in flooring applications. The results showed that the wood of the three species turned dark. This is because brightness diminished and yellowness and redness increased. Weight loss due to pre-heating was statistically higher in V. ferruginea and V. guatemalensis. The final density and spring-back were statistically similar in the three species. The percentage of densification of A. acuminata and V. guatemalensis were statistically higher than for V. ferruginea and the degree of compression was statistically higher in V. guatemalensis. As for flooring evaluation, the percentage of densification, temperature and time of pre-heating affected the behavior of densified wood flooring. The low percentage of densification and high weight loss in the pre-heating stage caused greater values of wear, wear index, residual deformation, residual indentation for the falling ball indentation test, and more damages in the surface indentation test in wood of V. ferruginea.