Study of Transmission\nand Haze of Translucent Wood\nBased on Wood Density and Hyperspectral Analysis of Wood Fabrication

Translucent wood is a biocomposite material fabricated\nby altering\nthe chemical structure of the wood and impregnating the structural\nvoids with a polymer that closely matches the refractive index of\nthe structure of the wood. This work reports on the study of translucent\nwood fabricated using five different diffuse porous hardwood species\nand records the transmission and haze measurements of each of these\nspecies’ samples. This work highlights the trends between the\nmeasured transmission and haze on one hand and the anatomical differences\nand/or similarities of these species on the other hand. In terms of\nthe anatomy of wood, we attempt to link the anatomical density of\nwood to the observed optical properties. The study first demonstrates\nthe efficient removal of lignin and the proof of polymer impregnation\nin order to obtain translucent wood using hyperspectral imaging for\nspatial recognition of lignin and resin in the samples. Three methods\nof optical transmission measurement are presented here, as well as\nresults on the wood densities obtained using two different methods:\nthe first method calculates the structural ratio using image segmentation\nbetween the wood and the empty pores (lumen) and the second method\nuses the ratio of water-saturated and dry wood weight using the water\nimmersion method. It is concluded that there are correlations between\nthe density of the wood and the optical properties, particularly noting\nthat the optical transmission of translucent wood decreases as the\nwood density increases. On the other hand, no clear correlations were\nobserved between the structural properties and the haze properties\nof the material. Some potential explanations are given and open the\nway to further studies and understanding of wood structure using optical\nmethods.