Industrial Innovations

Curved wood is used in the manufacture of furniture, sports goods, boats, ships and several decorative and utility articles. The steam bending technique in vogue for certain types of wood viz., Bamboo, etc. has further limitations such as bending at sharp radius of curvature is not possible. Long period is required for plasticization and drying of stock after bending. This process has overcome these limitations by using vapor phase ammonia plasticization technique for making bent wood of a wide variety of woods. Bending results have indicated that several important timbers which are not amenable to steam bending can be bent successfully even to sharp curvatures by vapor phase ammonia plasticisation technique. The technique would economize use of wood without effecting the functional requirements of the products.