Wood surface modification in dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure

The plasma pre-treatment of wood surfaces with a dielectric barrier discharge under atmospheric pressure and under an average process gas temperature of 35 degreesC increases the fracture strength of glued robinia wood by 28%. The moisture content of the wood before the treatment has no influence on the final result. The uptake time of a water droplet can be greatly shortened and the wetted area can be substantially increased by a plasma treatment. The delaminating experiments of coatings on wetted woods show an improvement of 18%. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.