The potential of using ground birch (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) bark as an eco-friendly additive in urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesives for plywood manufacturing was investigated in this work. Five-ply plywood panels were fabricated in the laboratory from beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) veneers bonded with UF adhesive formulations comprising three addition levels of birch bark (BB) as a filler (10%, 15%, and 20%). Two UF resin formulations filled with 10% and 20% wheat flour (WF) were used as reference samples. The mechanical properties (bending strength, modulus of elasticity and shear strength) of the laboratory-fabricated plywood panels, bonded with the addition of BB in the adhesive mixture, were evaluated and compared with the European standard requirements (EN 310 and EN 314-2). The mechanical strength of the plywood with the addition of BB in the adhesive mixture is acceptable and met the European standard requirements. Markedly, the positive effect of BB in the UF adhesive mixture on the reduction of formaldehyde emission from plywood panels was also confirmed. Initially, the most significant decrease in formaldehyde release (up to 14%) was measured for the plywood sample, produced with 15% BB. After four weeks, the decrease in formaldehyde was estimated up to 51% for the sample manufactured with 20% BB. The performed differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), also confirmed the findings of the study. As this research demonstrated, BB as a waste or by-product of wood processing industry, can be efficiently utilized as an environmentally friendly, inexpensive alternative to WF as a filler in UF adhesive formulations for plywood manufacturing.

Sawdust from six wood species typical of Eastern Europe: beech ( Fagus L.), birch ( Betula L.), oak ( Quercus L.), pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.), poplar ( Populus L.) and willow ( Salix L.) with a moisture content of 8% were compacted at a compressive pressure of 120 MPa in a laboratory mould...

Knowledge of bee products’ physical properties has a decisive importance for the monitoring of their quality. Thermophysical parameters are very important properties. Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of selected bee products (honey, bee pollen and perga) were measured by two different methods. For identification of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity transient methods were used: Hot Wire (HW) and Dynamic Plane Source (DPS) method with an instrument Isomet 2104. The principle of measuring process is based on the analysis of timetemperature relation. In the first series of measurements thermal conductivity and diffusivity at constant laboratory temperature of 20 °C were measured. The second series was focused on identification of the changes in the thermophysical parameters during temperature stabilisation in the temperature range of 5–25 °C. For samples with constant temperature standard deviations and probable errors in % were calculated. For relations of thermal parameters to temperature graphical dependencies were obtained. Two different thermophysical methods were used for improvement of data reliability and data statistics.

This article focuses on temperature relations of selected thermophysical parameters for soft wheat flour. The main aim of experiment was to determine the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and volume specific heat of soft wheat flour in Slovakia marked as Špeciál 00 Extra. Measurements were performed in laboratory settings. Thermal parameters were measured using the thermal analyser Isomet 2104 with two types of probes - a linear probe and plane probe. Measurement by the linear probe is based on a hot wire method, and measurement by the plane probe is based on a simplified plane source method. Both methods are described in the text. Two types of measurement method were used because of the non-homogenous structure of measured material. All thermophysical parameters were measured during the temperature stabilisation in the temperature interval 5-24 °C. Obtained graphical relations had linear increasing progresses with high values of determination coefficients in all cases. Measurement results showed that measurement method has no significant influence on thermophysical parameters values.

The aim of the present study was to determine the physico-chemical properties (dry matter content, combustion heat, electrical properties, total protein, ash, fat and crude fibre contents, selected amino acids, and trace elements), antioxidant content, and sensory profile of Linz biscuits. They were enriched by the addition of powdered carrot, nettle leaves and elderberry fruit, which is 3% of the product. For comparison of results, a control variant without the addition of these components was also prepared. The enriched biscuits showed slightly higher total ash and crude fibre contents in comparison to the control samples. Results for the antioxidant activity and total polyphenol, flavonoid, and phenolic acid contents of the enriched biscuits were higher in all observed parameters than in the control sample with the best results obtained for Linz biscuits enriched with elderberry and nettle powder. In enriched biscuits, higher contents of iron, zinc, and manganese were measured, especially in biscuits with nettle. Linz biscuits with nettle had higher combustion heat values than control samples; the other two sample types had lower values. We found that the resistance, capacitance, and relative permittivity of the enriched biscuits decreased with frequency according to the power regression function. On the contrary, the conductivity increased with an increasing frequency. Electrical properties were mainly influenced by the water content but also by added components.