An abstract of the thesis of

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When a panel with surface VTC strands is compacted, more compaction will 
happen in the core because the VTC layer is already compacted wood which cannot 
compact much more. Thus compared to panel with VTC, the core of VTC panels is 
expected to have higher density. The surface of VTC panels will start with higher density 
but will get closer to panels without VTC as compaction increases. Experimental results 
shown the surface density still remain higher in VTC panels versus control panel.
Figure 6.5 shows the experimental density profile of 40% by weight control 
strands or VTC strands on the surfaces (Rathi 2009). In this case, the regions of high 
density on the surface are larger than the case of control 20% by weight because more 
strands were placed on the surface. Similar to 20% VTC strand panels with 40% VTC 
strands had higher density throughout compared to control panels. 
Figure 6.6 combines results for Figure 6.4 and Figure 6.5. The density profiles of 
the control 20% and 40% had the similar shapes. The panel with 40% VTC was just a 
little higher density compared to the 20% VTC. Therefore, panel with 40% VTC would 
be expected to have higher mechanical properties compared to panel with 20% VTC. 
Figure 6.7 and 6.8 show simulated results for 20% control and 20% VTC or for 
40% control and 40% VTC, respectively. The simulated curves were for panels 
compacted by 40%. Similar to experiments, the surface of VTC panels had higher density 
and the higher density region was larger for 40% VTC panels. The differences in surface 
density between VTC and controls, however was higher in simulated results than in 
experimental results.
The 20% panels showed no difference in core density between VTC and control 
panels, which differ from experimental results, where VTC panels had a denser core. In 
better agreement with experiments, the simulated results of 40% panels did shown higher 
core density in the VTC panel. 
Figure 6.9 combines all simulation results. The 20% and 40% control specimens 
were similar. The 40% VTC panel showed overall higher density than the 20% control 
VTC panel.

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