Curing wood in sealed cases under load

Curing wood in sealed cases under load

Proposed scheme:

barrel → solution → sealed case → air removal → sealing → stacking in a cassette → several cassettes in a stack → controlled loading → long-term exposure.

Instead of loose bags I would use flat onesTimber Pack Modules: the trunk or several boards are in the solution inside a strong flexible cover, and the cover itself lies between the distribution plates.

What will the pressure give?

Moderate external pressure potentially offers several advantages. It reduces air pockets around the wood, ensures constant contact of the solution with the entire surface, prevents the trunk from floating, and allows for much more compact storage.

But there is an important nuance: if the sealed bag is completely filled with practically incompressible water, the load on topwill not necessarily create significant excess pressure inside, especially if the case simply deforms laterally. Therefore, the idea becomes much more interesting if the stack is placed in a rigid cassette or press that limits lateral expansion.

Then you can get:

external load → shell pressure → liquid pressure → impact on wood surface.

The main advantage is the combination of vacuum and pressure

The most promising option is not just a stack, but a cycle:

vacuum → filling with solution → slight excess pressure → holding.

A vacuum helps remove air from accessible cavities in the wood, after which pressure forces the liquid into the air-filled spaces. This is the same general physical principle used in industrial wood impregnation, although your goal is different: not a preservative, but a controlled, long-term modification of the material.

I would therefore divide the experiments into four modes:

It's a comparisonP0 and P1will show whether the idea of ​​a stack itself provides a chemical advantage or just convenience of storage.

Advantages of a stack

The first advantage is the extremely efficient use of space. Several horizontal layers of timber can be placed in a single prepared pool or marsh reserve.

Second, the trunks do not float or move.

Third, standardized batches can be organized:

Stack B-2028 / Oak / Humic Medium / P1

and, after decades, know the exact processing history of each batch.

Fourth, the pressure of the distribution plates can counteract some of the deformations of the wood during long-term exposure.

Fifth, the entire package can be extracted usingRiver Rover Recovery, without looking for individual trunks in the silt.

But there are serious drawbacks

1. Risk of wood damage

If you simply stack heavy trunks on top of each other:

local dents appear;

the sapwood is damaged;

internal stresses arise;

curved trunks receive point loads.

Therefore, the load should not be transferred directly from wood to wood, but throughdistribution frames.

2. Damage to covers

This is probably the main problem with the simple design.

A knot or sharp piece of wood under heavy load can puncture the casing.

A multi-layer structure is needed:

wood → soft protective inner layer → sealed membrane → reinforcing mesh → outer mechanical protective cover.

3. The pressure will be uneven

If you put 5 tons of wood on top, this does not mean that each lower trunk is under the same useful pressure.

The following arise:

point loads;

distortions;

lateral extrusion of liquid;

different conditions in different bags.

That's why The weight of the stack is a poor way to accurately regulate pressure.

4. Loss of solution is possible

A micro-puncture of one case can lead to:

dilution of the solution;

penetration of swamp water;

change in chemistry;

loss of the experiment's integrity.

Therefore, each module needs a leak indicator.

5. Anaerobic biology

A sealed bag containing wood and organic matter is not a chemically dead system. Microbiological activity can develop within it, resulting in the formation of:

CO₂;

methane;

organic acids;

other products of anaerobic decomposition.

Therefore, a completely sealed soft bag without pressure control is potentially problematic.

For the research option, either a gas compensation volume or a relief valve/sample port is required.

A stronger design: not a bag, but a “cassette”

I would therefore change the original idea.

DREVO Timber Pressure Cassette

Each module:

upper perforated protective plate ↓soft distribution mat ↓sealed case ↓barrel + solution ↓sealed case ↓soft mat ↓lower supporting lattice

Several such cassettes are installed one on top of the other:

DREVO TIMBER RESERVE

┌─────────────────────┐

│ distribute cargo │

├─────────────────────┤

│ Timber Cassette 05 │

├─────────────────────┤

│ Timber Cassette 04 │

├─────────────────────┤

│ Timber Cassette 03 │

├─────────────────────┤

│ Timber Cassette 02 │

├─────────────────────┤

│ Timber Cassette 01 │

├─────────────────────┤

│ bottom platform │

└─────────────────────┘

The vertical posts of the frame bear the bulk of the stack's weight. Therefore, the bottom trunkshould not bear the weight of all the upper trunks.

And the pressure on a specific cassette is created separately.

Even more interesting is to use the depth of the water

ForDREVO Timber ReserveThere is a more elegant natural option.

When diving, the pressure of the surrounding water increases by approximately1 bar for every 10 m of depthsuperatmospheric.

Therefore, the deep reserve itself creates uniform external pressure from all sides.

But there's a limitation here too: if the flexible cover contains water at virtually the same pressure, a large pressure differential through the wood won't automatically occur. Depth is primarily useful foruniform compression of the structure and stability of the environment, and not as a free analogue of an industrial autoclave.

What would I experience first?

Don't immediately commit expensive trunks to 20 years of service. For a pilot, identical oak and ash samples are sufficient.

Make, for example, five identical series:

A - plain water;B — humic solution;C — mineral solution;D — humic-mineral solution;E is the same as D, but vacuum + controlled pressure.

Divide each one further intono load / moderate pressure / vacuum pressure.

After 6, 12, 24 and 60 months, measure not only the color, but above all:

depth of penetration of the solution;

mass and density;

shrinkage/swelling;

hardness;

bending strength;

chemical depth profile;

state of the cellular structure;

Fe/Mn/Ca/Mg content;

fungal and bacterial infection.

Then, in a few years, DREVO will have an answer to a much more important question:Does pressure actually speed up the beneficial transformation of wood or does it just speed up the penetration of the solution and the coloring?