1 INTRODUCTION

THE OBJECTIVE of a consolidation treatment is to impart sufficient strength to an object while maintaining its integrity. There is much information on wood-polymer composits produced industrially by catalyst-heat or radiation process, but few articles concerned with consolidation treatments for degraded wood have been published. However, the principles relating to the formation of wood-polymer composites can be applied also to consolidation by resin impregnation. It has been found that wood-polymer composites can have significantly higher strength than untreated but intact, undamaged wood (Siau et al, 1968).

Before synthetic resins were developed, a number of materials such as animal glue, molten wax, drying oil, and natural resin were used as consolidants. However, each of these has its drawbacks (Plenderleith and Werner 1971).