The effects of a heat treatment on the behaviour of extractives in softwood studied by FTIR spectroscopic methods

Scots pine battens were heat-treated at 100–240º C under saturated steam. Cross-sections of heat-treated battens were analysed using ATR and reflection FTIR microscopies. A typical absorption band of fats and waxes at 1740 cm^-1 was detected on the sapwood edges in the temperature range of 100–160º C, indicating that fats and waxes moved along the axial parenchyma cells to the surface of the sapwood during the heat treatment. At the elevated temperatures (above 180° C) fats and waxes disappeared from the sapwood surface and were no longer detected with FTIR spectroscopy. Resin acids were detected at temperatures between 100 and 180º C in the middle of the battens. IR spectra of these spots showed a characteristic absorption band of resin acids at 1697 cm^-1. At 200º C resin acids were not detected in the middle of the battens; however, resin acids were detected at distances of 500 and 600 mm from the midpoint of the battens and on the edges of battens. At temperatures above 200° C, resin acids had disappeared from the wood.