Impregnation of Castanea crenata Wood by Hydrophobic Oil

This paper investigates the penetration of essential oil into radial and longitudinal directions of Castanea crenata. Present study was performed to know the essential oil penetration depth in radial and longitudinal direction of Castanea crenata. Essential oil penetration depth was found higher in longitudinal direction than in radial direction and it was about 53 times high at 15.0 second of penetration. In earlywood, fiber conducted oil more than that of large vessel. In heartwood, fiber had played an important role for the conduction of oil. But in sapwood, small vessel conducted oil deeper than wood fiber, which was also significantly different from large. On the other hand, large vessel in heartwood had statistically lower penetration depth than that of fiber and small vessel. At the beginning of penetration the speed was high and gradually decreased in course of time.