The paper presents the results of an experimental research performed with spruce wood (Picea abies L.), originating from mature trees and thinnings cut from the same forest parcel from the Stroesti-Arges region in Romania. Solid wood panels were manufactured, both from heat-treated and untreated strips. The panels were open-air exposed for three winter months, in order to evaluate the colour and dimensional modifications which may occur if this material is used under outdoor conditions. The results showed that the panels made from heat-treated wood strips swelled by up to 74% less in case of mature wood and by up to 60% less in the case of juvenile wood. The colour of the heat-treated wood panels got lighter in time, the total colour change after three months ranging up to DE*=12, while the panels made from untreated wood strips suffered severe darkening during the period of open-air exposure (DL*=-16) and their total colour change ranged up to DE*=19. The overall conclusion of this research is that both mature and juvenile spruce wood are suitable for outdoor uses from the viewpoint of dimensional stability, but the severe colour modification (from glossy dark brown to glossy silver) after only three months of open-air exposure must be taken into consideration.

The simulation from the motion of flat particle revealed that the fall depends on the height of the drop, the thickness and density of the particles and does not depend on its length and width. The drop in air is about 20% longer than in vacuum. During orientation from angular particles the velocity of rotating particles with a length of 150mm is reduced by 18%, for particles with a length of 75mm by 12%. This reduction increases linearly with decreasing density of particles. A velocity field acting on the particle in the fall and rotation was presented. The results of the study prove the possibility to reduce the scatter of the particles during the mat's formation, that in turns can increase the board’s bending strength.

Due to persisting confusions between the concepts “labor productivity” and “working capacity” of a machine-tool, equipment or production line, the authors considered it necessary to define and explain these terms. Starting by defining the notions “working cycle” and “functioning cycle”, the paper details: the theoretical, technological and real working capacity and also the term “working time norm” for wood-working machine-tools.

Sanded wood surfaces contain irregularities caused by both the sanding process and the anatomy, so the anatomical roughness, which is independent of any machining operation, must be excluded from measurements of surface irregularities if the processing roughness is to be properly evaluated. This paper investigates the effect of earlywood and latewood on the roughness parameters of oak sanded with P180 and spruce and beech sanded with P120 grit size. The wood anatomy was excluded from the roughness profiles using a method based on the Abbot-curve. Latewood was smoother than earlywood with the greatest ratio in oak, followed by spruce and beech. The ratio of latewood to earlywood processing roughness.described by several roughness parameters was in an inverse relationship with the density ratio of these growth areas reported in literature. The roughness parameters in mix areas of latewood and earlywood seemed to be related to species density. A mean of the roughness parameters measured locally in both areas of earlywood and latewood was a good approximation of the surface roughness.

The paper submits constructive options and methods to design and manufacture modular parquet flooring, as well as fastening methods in constructions. Likewise, it presents the branches of civil engineering where modular parquet flooring may be turned to profit – industrial buildings, company premises or residential premises. The turn towards the achievement of private constructions, such as individual houses, led to losing control of the modular system applied in defining the inner sizes of the constructions and implicitly to the apparition of dimensional incompatibilities between the parquet flooring and the built spaces. The paper sets out (to solve by an individualized design procedure) to achieve modular parquet flooring in industrial system, in correspondence with the sizes of the inner spaces afferent to the constructions.

Phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins were prepared with a level of 10%, 20% and 30% substitution of the phenol in the resin by three types of wheat gluten protein hydrolysates having different characteristics, namely (i) an enzymatic hydrolysate, (ii) a lower molecular weight enzymatic hydrolysate, and (iii) a middle sized molecular weight acid hydrolysate. The mixed protein-phenolic oligomer species distribution formed in the preparation of these resins were identified by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry.