Thermal wood processing

Silvapro^® is a modern, environment friendly
and award-winning wood protection process
in which we do not use any chemicals.

Wood is composed of cells and cell walls of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. By changing (modifying) the structure of these macromolecules we can improve some features of wood. In case of thermal modification (specific heat treatment process) of wood, changes in structure of woods macromolecules are result of spontaneous thermochemical reactions which take place during heating of the wood between 180°C and 230°C in inert atmosphere.

Main features of Silvapro^® wood in comparison to natural, untreated wood:
• Improved resistance of treated wood to natural pests, thereby significantly increased life span even when used outdoors
• reduced thermal conductivity of the wood
• reduced moisture equilibrium content of wood
• Improved dimensional stability
• exotic appearance
• uniform color throughout the cross-section of the wooden element
• 100% human and environment friendly

The method is suitable for improvement of features of most species of conifers and deciduous trees, solid wood and veneer. High quality tropical wood species can be equivalently replaced with lower quality and less attractive wood species without use of any chemical products. Wood protected with innovative Silvapro^® process is therefore an ideal material for outdoor use, for example for the manufacture of carpentry (doors, windows etc.), garden furniture, wooden terraces and facade cladding, fencing and roofing, as well as for the manufacture of interior furniture, flooring, bathrooms and saunas.

With thermal modification wood obtains a dark brown color that is consistent across the entire cross section of the wooden element. Color shade depends particular on the degree of modification and the type of wood, among other specifics that also play a role but in a lesser extent are the origin of the timber and possible discolorations. With time, wood exposed to UV rays, becomes gray which is a natural process and does not affect the quality of the wood. If you would like to further color the modified wood, or prevent the graying of the surface, we recommend using Silvanol stain B and Silvacera^® wax.

Wood for thermal modification can be delivered to us, but for a larger project we can arrange cooperation with our partners to produce custom wooden elements from Silvapro^® thermally modified wood according to your wishes.

TESTED
Silvapro^® wood has been researched and developed within RIP08 project and tested on Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana