Moisture absorption and desorption properties of douglas fir, hinoki, larch, plywood, and wml board^Ⓡ in response to humidity variation

In this study, the moisture absorption and desorption properties presented by the Health-Friendly Housing Construction Standards of South Korea were compared using the wood of three tree species (Douglas-fir, Hinoki, Larch) and two types of wood-based materials(Plywood, WML Board^Ⓡ). The national standards for functional building materials present that the amounts of moisture absorption and desorption should be at least 65g/㎡ on average, respectively according to the test method under KS F 2611:2009. Therefore, in this study, the moisture absorption/desorption properties of materials with no treatment (Control), with punching, and with surface stain finishing and the moisture absorption/desorption property improvement effects of the treatments were compared and analyzed. According to the results of this study, it was evaluated that all five types of wood and wood-based materials tested did not satisfy the amount of moisture absorption/desorption of at least 65g/㎡, which is the performance standard for moisture absorption/desorption functional building materials, indicating that untreated wood and wood-based materials cannot be applied as functional finishing materials according to the Health-Friendly Housing Construction Standards. The surface stain finishing greatly reduced the moisture absorption and desorption rates of the materials, and the amounts of moisture absorbed and desorbed were also shown to decrease by at least two times on average. When the surfaces of the materials were punched with ∅4mm holes at intervals of 20 mm, the moisture absorption/desorption areas increased from 18% to 51%, and this increase was shown to be capable of increasing the amounts of moisture absorbed/desorbed by 29% on average at the minimum, and 81% on average at the maximum. The effects of punching were shown to be identical even in cases where the materials were stain finished. For the application of wood or wood-based materials as eco-friendly, health-friendly, and moisture absorption/desorption functional building materials hereafter, it is judged that new physical and chemical improvement studies should be conducted, and treatment methods should be developed.