Syllabus

Course Outline, 2012 (Term 1)

Wood 474: Wood Properties and Products Manufacturing

Instructor:
Dr. Paul McFarlane
604-822-7667
Office – 4038 FSC, 2424 Main Mall,
paul.mcfarlane@ubc.ca
Office Hours: By appointment or Wednesday 3 pm to 5 pm
Teaching Assistant:
Mr. Jinguang Hu
Office – 4301, 2424 Main Mall

Class Schedule and Venue

Class: Monday, 11.00 to 13.00, Forest Sciences Centre 2964: CAWP classroom

Course Objectives

To provide forestry students with an understanding of:
a)     the physical and strength properties of wood; and
b)     the characteristics and manufacturing technologies for the major wood products.

Topics to be covered

Physical properties of wood
Wood characteristics

  • Review of wood structure
  • Origin of wood properties
  • Wood properties related to industrial utilization
    • Positive attributes
    • Negative attributes
Wood moisture relationships
  • How moisture is measured
  • How wood dries and shrinks
  • Stress during drying and resultant defects
Strength Properties of Wood
Mechanical Properties
  • Strength
  • Deformation
  • Elasticity and effects of structure, environment and time
Stresses in wood beams, reactions and moments
  • Deflection in simple beams
  • Principles of mechanical stress grading
  • Derivation of working stresses
Wood Products and the Industry
Primary Processing and Drying
  • Sawmilling technology
  • Wood drying
Wood preservation
  • Natural durability – decay
  • Discolouration (chemical and microbial)
  • Wood Preservation
Wood Panels
  • Structural and Non-structural panels: plywood, OSB, particleboard, MDF

Engineered wood products (EWPs)

  • Glulam, Parallam, strand based EWPs, I-joists, finger jointed products

Pulp and Paper

  • Pulping processes
  • Production of paper

Value Chain operation

  • Operation of the forestry value chain from forest to market – with an emphasis on the British Columbian value chain.

Grading Policy

Quizzes and Problems – 10%
Report on industrial plant visit – 15%
Mid-term exam – 30%
Final Exam – 45%

Reference Texts

There is no required course text.
Students may find the following source useful:
Bowyer, J.L., R. Shmulsky and J.G. Haygreen. Forest Products and Wood Science, (Fourth Edition). Iowa State press. ISBN 0-8138-2654-3. 554 pp.