Effects of Low-Energy-Density Microwave Treatment on Graphene/Polyvinyl Alcohol-Modified Poplar Veneer

Abstract

The combination of natural wood and graphene can provide a new type of material with excellent mechanical properties and thermal conductivity. However, it is difficult for graphene to uniformly penetrate the wood due to the anisotropy of natural wood and the agglomeration of graphene. In this work, poplar veneer was treated with low-energy-density microwave to expand the entry pathways for the graphene steering liquid. The porosity, weight percent gain, and chromatic aberration were used to examine the impact of the microwave time and power. We tested the mechanical properties, thermal conductivity of the graphene/polyvinyl alcohol-modified poplar veneer to evaluate its properties. At the same time, SEM, XRD, and FT-IR were used to characterize its physical and chemical structure. The results showed that low-energy-density microwave treatment increased the weight percentage gain (WPG) and porosity without affecting the mechanical properties of the poplar veneer. The graphene-modified poplar veneer with the optimal overall performance was obtained by microwave treatment at 100% microwave power for 50 s. Indeed, the microcharacterization also revealed that the microwave treatment mostly attacked the wood rays but had little effect on the materialized structure. Therefore, low-energy-density microwave treatment could be an energy-saving and efficient way to improve graphene-impregnated veneers.