Basic properties of specific wood-based materials carbonised in a nitrogen atmosphere

The purpose of this study is to develop new porous carbon materials by carbonising wood-based materials. One of the advantages of wood-based materials used as precursors for porous carbon materials is the simple and cost-effective production technique. Moreover, it is possible to make adjustments for a wide range of macro- and micro-structures by selecting different densities and particle sizes. Compared with solid wood, wood-based materials possess much greater homogeneity, isotropy and reproducible characteristics. Another great advantage is the fact that carbon materials can thus be produced from a renewable resource. A broad variety of specifically developed wood-based materials were carbonised to produce porous carbon materials for which characteristics such as density, yield, dimensional changes and surface area were determined. Light microscopy and mechanical testing were applied for further characterisation. The results showed how density and particle size affect the structure of the carbon materials; dimensional changes and mass loss are influenced by the carbonisation temperature, adhesive content and apparent density; increasing particle size decreases flexural strength and increasing apparent density or adhesive content raises flexural strength super-proportionally; and specific surface area increases with rising carbonisation temperatures.