Improved wood

Finland is known for its wood. The Wood Material Science research group, led by Lauri Rautkari, is, as its name suggests, focused on wood, which is perhaps more interesting now than ever. The group’s aim is to develop new types of wood products with improved properties and ecological sustainability. The international group's research topics include the development of thermal modification and other modification methods, improving the properties of wood materials, microbiological applications, and the study of the chemical composition of wood.

Wood can be used to make an almost unlimited number of different products. However, Professor Lauri Rautkari’s research group focuses primarily on wood as a material, rather than on materials or products developed from wood fibers, such as pulp or paper. Rautkari explains that much of the research has focused on how to make wood products more sustainable and enhance their properties, thereby increasing the added value of wood. The aim is not to have to replace or repaint wooden houses or docks every 10 or 20 years, but to make them last even longer. At the heart of the research is sustainability: wood sequesters carbon dioxide, and the longer wood products last, the longer the carbon dioxide is sequestered.

Better products from more sustainable materials

An essential part of the research relates to the interaction between water and wood. The water bound to wood has a significant effect on the properties of the wood material, such as strength, stiffness, and resistance to decay. A better understanding of the interaction between wood and water or moisture will help to further improve the performance of wood materials in the built environment. This will help to achieve long-lasting products and durable materials. Senior University Lecturer Kristiina Lillqvist points out that life cycle thinking has been the default value in the industry: all parts of wood are used and there is little waste, and material that cannot be used is at the very least used for energy. Research is aimed at extending the life of products and environmentally friendly treatments are essential because, as a renewable material, wood has an environmentally friendly image that is to be cherished. An essential development has been the recent awakening to the need to articulate these issues: "Sustainability issues have been embedded in the research of the sector, but now we see the need to speak about it. However, these themes have always been there by default," says Lillqvist.

Other important research topics include chemical imaging of biomaterials and wood modification, which the team has also combined in a new way. For example, wood can be modified to make it more suitable for outdoor use, for example by heat treatment, chemical treatment, or other environmentally friendly methods. By combining this with chemical imaging, it is possible to verify at the molecular level which part of the cell wall or wood structure has been modified. "This kind of research has not been done before at Aalto and perhaps not so widely elsewhere, either. A lot of it has been done here now, and we have been good at it," says Rautkari. Focusing on basic research and the material properties of wood is important knowledge that can be used in product development now and in the future, also in industrial product development.
 

Growing interest

There is a broad interest in wood materials science. In addition to their own students, Rautkari and Lillqvist also train students in civil engineering, architecture, and wood design, just to name a few. This has been the case for a long time, but in recent years the trend has become more pronounced. One reason for this is probably the changes in education, which included the creation of online courses. These courses are also particularly popular at the scale of the School of Chemical Engineering. One of the aims of these courses is to facilitate the dissemination of information to a wider audience. There has been a great demand for courses of this kind, as wood construction and the use of wood materials are taking place in many directions. One of the most popular courses is the "Forests, Wood and Carbon" course, which is a comprehensive course that also covers carbon and life cycle assessment issues. "The course content could be seen as useful general knowledge, especially as forests in Finland are our most important natural resource. It's good to have a big audience, because it's important for anyone in our country," Lillqvist stresses the importance of the course. Finland and wood attract people from abroad, which is also reflected in the course participants.

When looking ahead, there is already much new on the horizon. The latest big project is the "Perfect Wood" research project with VTT, which has received three years of funding from Business Finland. This project is also tied to the increase in demand: wood is a trendy material in construction, and it is important to use it in construction with high quality. As the name suggests, the research project aims to perfect wood and get the most out of the material. In particular, the chemical modification of wood is at the heart of the research. Wood will not disappear in the future, and its interest as a building material will grow, so the research team has a lot of work to do.