2.

0 Introduction – Risal
Timber is considerably one of the sustainable structural materials that requires less energy to manufacture
and implement as a finished product. The main advantage of wood in construction is its ultimate strength,
environment friendly characteristics, simple handling processes and its primary ease of construction.
Furthermore, being perceived as an appropriate building material, trees and their derivative products has
been used by people around the world for thousands of years [1]. A timber that is delivered to the
construction site goes through an entire journey from harvesting to manufacturing. The flow chart shown
below depicts the entire process:

Felling Storing/Transporting Onsite Seasoning

Processing

Preparing for market

Felling is the very first stage of a commercial timber production. As the term suggests, it is a process of
downing individual trees and preparing it for transporting. The harvested tree is than stored at “clear” site
in the forest awaiting orders from the sawmill to be transported in and processed. This waiting time also
allows some free water content to evaporate and reducing the weight for the ease of transportation. The
third stage of processing is the core process where the timber conversion essentially takes place. In this
process, the logs are first debarked or cut to the required length. Furthermore, the 3 methods of conversion
namely the through and through sawing, tangential sawing and quarter sawing is employed. Each
significant method has its own rewards and drawbacks. After on site preparation completes, the timber
members undergo the seasoning process. the seasoning process namely occurs under 2 different methods of
kiln seasoning and air-dry seasoning. Kiln seasoning is the preferred method as it reduces time for
processing by using external methods of fans and extra preservatives to remove the moisture from the
timber. Upon the completion of the seasoning periods, the secondary processing takes place where the final
product is refined to specific dimensions and treatments such as fireproofing [2].

2.1 Structure of Timber

2.1.1 Cross section of the Tree

Understanding timber as a structural material firstly begins with its origin and its journey of processing
till a final product is delivered to the construction site. The timber performance under its service life is
affected by a number of factors: namely, the applied load, the number of defects present on the timber
member, the grain orientation and many more. These listed factors all converges to tree species from
which the timber was initially extracted from. To understand the timber production process, firstly the
cross section of a tree must be vividly studied [3].
 Figure 1: Cross section of a tree [1]

2.1.1.1 The Dead Bark

The outermost bark or commonly referred to as the dead bark is a layer of dead tissue which provide
protection for the branches and trunk. It provides a rigid interface for the moisture to be retained inside
the living cells of the tree. Moreover, some trees are bound to shed the outer bark each year while the
other trees dead bark is only removed through the natural weathering process.

2.1.1.2 The Live Bark

The live bark is the immediate bark that is found under the dead bark. It is also the living tissue under
the dead bark where the food materials that are produced for the leaves, branches, trunks and roots are
transported via the medium of live bark.

2.1.1.3 The Cambium Layer

The cambium layer is the inner bark of the tree which contains layer of thin cells that is invisible to the
naked eye. This layer is positioned in the inside the live bark and it facilitates all growth in the
thickness of the tree trunk,

2.1.1.4 Sap wood

Sapwood is the new wood formation under the cambium layer. This is the region of the wood that is
often lighter in colour than the heartwood region. The sapwood conducts the movement of water and
minerals salts form the root system of a tree to the leaves.

2.1.1.5 Heartwood
Heartwood or also referred to as the true wood is made up of cells that are eventually dead. This area
of tree cross section is mainly for mechanical strength to support the tree upright. The formation of the
heartwood occurs through the blockage process of channels that was once part of sapwood and was
used to transport minerals to the branches and trees. This blockage of the channels occurs when stored
food materials are converted into the resins, tannins and other related substances. Heartwood is more
durable than the sapwood.

2.1.1.6 The Pith

Pith is the soft dead centre of the tree that is usually about a centimetre in diameter. The pith is also
referend to as the medulla and from which the cracks that propagates form the centre towards heart
wood and sapwood are referred to as the medullary rays.

2.1.1.7 Growth Rings

The annual growth rings are formed each year when a new layer of wood is added in the truck and
branches of the tree. The new wood grows from the cambium layer between the old wood and the
 bark. As the tree ages, they grow in width and the height. The age of the tree can be depicted from
counting these annular rings.

2.1.2 Timber Anatomy

A timber piece that is harvested from a tree has varying components to it depending on the specific
cross-sectional area of the tree from which the timber piece was extracted from. The anatomy of timber
may include grain deviations of a different nature based on the number of defects or a timber maybe
extracted from the heartwood region where the annual growth ring density is much higher. These small
factors significantly affect the performance of the timber in its industrial applications thus understanding
the anatomy of timber greatly allows a better approach to visual inspection and grading of the timber
[2].

Growth rings of
heartwood Grain Direction

Pith/Dead Centre
Figure 2: Timber Anatomy

2.2 Timber Treatment

Timber treatment process are designed process whereby the preservatives are added to the timber to
provide protection during its desired service life. After the felling process of a timber, from a natural
viewpoint, it is a dead body that is ready to enter initial decomposition process by timber pests. Most of the
timber preservatives are fundamentally the fungicides and they need an addition of insecticide to make the
timber suitable against termites. Timber must adequately undergo seasoning process to first control the
moisture content. The moisture content is one of the major factors that ferments such fungicides. It must be
ensured that the timber is kept dry to a moisture content of that of below 20% such that it sustains such
fungal attack. Generally, there are 3 types of timber preservatives: waterborne, tar oils and organic solvent -
borne. Waterborne and organic solvents are typically the most widely used protection methods for building
timbers through out the world. The primary function for these preservatives is to penetrate and stay
stagnant in a shell of timber to guard it against stain, mould growth, decay and insect attack. Moreover, the
decision on the type of preservatives to be fused to the timber depends on its end use i.e., whether the
timber will be externally or internally fitted [4]. The three types of timber treatments and preservatives are
detailed as such:

2.2.1 Water Borne Preservatives

There are typically 2 types of waterborne preservatives that are used for timber treatment. The first
one is boron compounds that are used for green timber and the second one includes the copper,
chromium and arsenic (CCA) for seasoned timber, whereby both are soluble in water. The
application of these 2 types of preservatives is applied by vaccum/pressure impregnation. Once the
impregnation stage is completed the CCA becomes the fixed in insoluble part of the wood resulting
in high durability in timber. On the other hand, the boron compounds are effective against timber
rotting fungi and termites. The boron compounds are only susceptible to green timber as they have
high moisture content allowing the boron preservatives to easily diffuse and settle withing the
timber. Boron coated timber are not applicable for outdoor use where it is exposed to the prolonged
hours of rain.
 2.2.2 Tar Oil Preservatives
The commonly used tar oil preservative is called “creosote” which is the by product of coal. These
preservatives are generally suitable for external use timber as the coat smell, dark colour and the
inability to take in finished paints restricts its aesthetics criteria. The external uses such as fence
posts, piers and transmission poles are few application criteria for tar-oil coating. This coating
essentially reduces the absorption of moisture and effectively protects against fungi/insect attack
[5].

2.2.3 Organic solvent preservatives

These preservatives are only applied through the medium of intense vaccum/pressure impregnation.
These preservatives have properties that does not change the moisture content or the specific
dimensions of the timber and are mostly found in paint forms that are very much effective against
fungal attacks. It is non-corrosive and also contains ingredients that have low water solubility.

2.3 Timber Products

Timber application fits in a large field of areas. Timbers such as sawn and dressed can be normally used for
frames however there are those that are engineered to expand on the application of this structural product.
engineered products that are normally called Engineered Wood Products (EWP) allows the engineers to
utilise the manipulated temperament properties of timber to its full potential. Some of the known timber
products are as follows:

2.3.1 Veneers
Veneers are primarily thin layers of wood that are obtained through the rotary cutter. A rotary cutter
essentially produces thin sheets when a log is rotated against a sharp saw that is laid at an angle.
These thin sheets are placed under kiln seasoning process and then they are manufactured into
products like plyboard and blockboards.

2.3.2 Plywood
Plywood is obtained by placing layers of veneers on top of each other. The interface of each
successive layers is adjoined using the suitable adhesives and are pressured in hot and cold
conditions. Typically, in hot conditions the temperatures up 150 to 200 degrees are subjected and a
consequently a hydraulic press is used to press the layers. Plywood itself has a wide range of
applications including doors, walls, partitions formwork for concrete and many more. Not just its
physical properties but its physical appearance provides a greater series of application such as
theatres, restaurants and churches.

2.3.3 Fibre Boards

Fibre boards are rigid boards that are constructed using the wood fibres. The process includes,
extraction of wood fibres, boiling it into the hot water and then transferring it into a closed vessel.
Inside this vessel, a steam of low pressure is injected and the internal vessel quickly converts this
injected low pressure to higher pressure. Due to this sudden change in pressure, the wood fibres
undergo explosion and thus the natural adhesives get removed from the fibres. These fibres than
undergo a cleansing process before they are laid a pressed under steel sheets to form a fibre board.

2.3.4 Impregnated Timbers

These timbers are resin coated timbers. They are either fully or partly covered in resins with thin
layers of wood or veneers as a core. The most general resin used is called phenol formaldehyde.
This resin solution particularly fills ups the voids in the woods and thus the consolidated mass of
 the timber mass occurs. After application of resin, this product is than exposed to heat pressure as
the final stage of processing. The impregnated timbers provide good resistance to weather, acids,
electricity. It is also one of the strongest and consequently aesthetically pleasing and thus the
application area involves furniture’s and decorative products.
2.3.5 Glulam
Glulam as the name suggests are glued laminated woods. The manufacturing process includes the
gluing of solid woods to form sheets and then they are laminated with the suitable resins. The
glulam timber is one of the most suitable timber products for construction of chemical factories,
greater pan roofs for sports stadiums and the construction of the indoor swimming pools.

Bibliography

[1] A. K. &. B. Diman, "Sustainability and Applications of a Timber as Structural Material," International Research
Journal of Engineering and Technology, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 2-3 , 2019.

[2] R. i. E. &. D. Ţăpuşi, "Bending of Straight Bars Made of Anisotropic Materials," Material and Timber conversion ,
vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 2-3, 2017.

[3] H. Weston, "How Timber gets from Forests to Builders," International Timber , vol. 1, no. 1, p. 2, 2015.

[4] S. C. &. J. Mactaylor, "Jelfor Timbers," Timber Treatment, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 3, 2018.

[5] B. Kuriakose, "Timber Processing and Manufacture," Methods of timber treatment , vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-2, 2018.