Advances in Wood Processing and Wood Mechanical Properties

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the wood-processing industry has undergone rapid development driven by increasing demands for productivity, product quality, energy efficiency, and occupational health and safety. Modern wood-processing operations are no longer based solely on traditional technologies such as sawing, milling, or sanding, but increasingly rely on advanced approaches in manufacturing digitalisation, automation, and precise process control. At the same time, the importance of optimising material use, reducing waste, and minimising environmental impacts continues to grow, creating a strong need for new knowledge at both the technological and material levels.

The quality of final wood-based products is closely related to the mechanical properties of the material itself and to how these properties change during processing operations. Wood processing is inherently complex: wood, as a natural, heterogeneous and anisotropic material, responds to mechanical, thermal and moisture-related loads in ways that can significantly affect strength, stiffness, toughness, dimensional stability, fatigue behaviour, and surface quality. For these reasons, research on the mechanical properties of wood and wood-based composites is an integral part of the development of new processing technologies and the design of safe, reliable, and durable structural and interior applications.

The interplay between “wood processing” and “wood mechanical properties” is also essential from an innovation perspective—ranging from the optimisation of cutting and sanding parameters, through tool design and wear, to evaluation of material damage, defect formation, microcracking, and surface-layer degradation. Modern experimental methods and analytical approaches play a key role in this progress, including advanced surface-quality measurements, digital image analysis, non-destructive testing, numerical modelling, statistical evaluation of variability, and data-driven methods for process optimisation.

For this Special Issue, titled “Advances in Wood Processing and Wood Mechanical Properties”, we welcome submissions that provide new insights into wood processing technologies, their influence on the mechanical performance of wood materials, and approaches to improve product quality, process efficiency and sustainability in wood-based manufacturing. The aim is to create an interdisciplinary platform connecting researchers, technologists, and industry professionals, and to offer readers up-to-date scientific results applicable in industrial practice and further research.

Recommended topics include the following:

• Advanced technologies in sawing, milling, drilling, turning and sanding of wood and wood-based composites;
• Optimisation of cutting and sanding conditions (speed, feed rate, tool geometry) and their impact on surface quality;
• Generation of chips and dust in wood processing: Mechanisms of formation, particle-size distribution, emission reduction, and occupational safety;
• Tool wear, tribological aspects of machining, and extending the service life of cutting and abrasive tools;
• Effects of processing on wood mechanical properties (strength, stiffness, toughness, fatigue behaviour);
• Mechanical properties of wood-based composites and their technological relationships;
• Influence of moisture, temperature, and hygro-thermal regimes on the processing and mechanical performance of wood;
• Non-destructive evaluation methods;
• Experimental techniques and modern approaches for surface-quality assessment;
• Statistical and data-driven methods in wood-processing research;
• Digitalisation, automation and intelligent process control in wood manufacturing (monitoring, sensors, online quality inspection);
• Sustainability and resource efficiency: waste reduction, recycling, by-product use, and circular-economy approaches;
• Innovations in bonding, pressing, and surface finishing with implications for mechanical performance;
• Applied research and industrial case studies in wood-processing practice.

We hope your contributions will expand the knowledge on advanced wood-processing technologies and mechanical performance of wood and wood-based materials while supporting the transfer of research results into industrial practice.

Dr. Martin Kučerka
Prof. Dr. Alena Očkajová
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• wood processing
• wood mechanical properties
• machining optimization
• surface quality
• tool wear
• wood-based composites
• non-destructive testing
• sustainable manufacturing