Surface quality and hardness of eastern redcedar as function of steaming

The objective of this study was to evaluate influence of steam treatment on surface quality and hardness of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.). Defect-free samples with dimensions of 40 mm by 50 mm in by 20 mm were used for the tests. Specimens were exposed to steam having a temperature of 130 °C for 1-h and 3-h periods of time. Surface roughness of the samples at initial and exposed conditions was determined using stylus type equipment across the grain orientation on tangential surface of each sample. Janka hardness of the control and treated samples was also determined on Comten testing system. Based on the findings in this work, no significance was found between surface roughness values of the specimens steamed for 1 and 3 h. However, both types of steamed specimens had higher average roughness values ranging from 52 and 60 % than those of control samples. It appears that 3-h steaming adversely influenced hardness of the samples reducing its 9 % as compared to those of control samples. Densification effect of steaming on the samples was also evaluated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and it was determined that steaming had some crushing effect on the cell wall.