This paper investigates the tribological and related properties of naturally modified beech wood (Fagus sylvatica). The modifications were performed on steamed beech wood using a variety of treatments consisting of drying, heating in an aqueous solution, impregnation with liquefied animal glue as well as beeswax followed by compression and various combinations thereof. Results indicate that an impregnation in liquefied animal glue followed by mechanical compression to 62% of the original volume leads to an increase in hardness of more than 160% as compared to steamed beech wood alone. The frictional properties of this natural polymer were further examined by sliding the wood samples against 100Cr6 (DIN 1.3505) steel spheres. Beeswax-impregnated and compressed samples showed a reduction in friction of 90% compared to steamed beech wood, with values in the regime of PTFE, over a sliding distance of 10 km with a normal load of 10 N and sliding speed of 0.1 m/s. Unlike PTFE, the low friction was also accompanied by a low specific wear rate of around 3.9 × 10⁻⁷ mm³/N m. This study demonstrates the enormous potential of modified woods as an all-natural, non-toxic, renewable, and biodegradable material to replace synthetic polymers in technical applications with practically no environmental loading.

中文翻译：

---

滑木：改性山毛榉木的低摩擦和低磨损

本文研究了天然修饰的山毛榉木（浅青豆）的摩擦学和相关性能。）。使用包括干燥，在水溶液中加热，用液化的动物胶和蜂蜡浸渍，然后压制及其各种组合组成的各种处理对蒸过的山毛榉木进行改性。结果表明，与单独蒸制的山毛榉木相比，在液化的动物胶中进行浸渍，然后机械压缩至原始体积的62％，可导致硬度增加超过160％。通过使木材样品靠着100Cr6（DIN 1.3505）钢球滑动，进一步检查了这种天然聚合物的摩擦性能。相比于蒸山毛榉木，经蜂蜡浸渍和压缩的样品在10 km的滑动距离（正常载荷为10 N，滑动速度为0.1 m / s）下，与PTFE山毛榉木相比，摩擦降低了90％。 。^-7  mm ³ / N m。这项研究表明，改性木材作为一种纯天然，无毒，可再生和可生物降解的材料，具有巨大的潜力，可以在几乎没有环境负荷的技术应用中替代合成聚合物。