Objective  The color, glossiness and texture of plain-sawed and quarter-sawed lumber of unmodified and silicate modified wood were measured and compared, and the effects of silicate modified treatment on the visual characteristics of Chinese fir wood were analyzed. The purpose was to provide theoretical basis for the large-scale application of silicate modified wood, guide the research and development of related products of modified Chinese fir wood.

  Method  By means of colorimeter, glossmeter and other experimental equipment, the L*a*b* value, glossiness and texture of plain-sawed and quarter-sawed lumber with a specification of 100 mm × 100 mm × 20 mm before and after modification were measured at room temperature, and the changing rule of visual physical parameters of the wood was analyzed.

  Result  (1) After modification, the red green value (a*) distribution intervals of the plain-sawed and quarter-sawed lumber were 2.0−6.0, 2.5−5.5, respectively, and the yellow blue chroma value (b*) distribution intervals were 17.5−24.0, 18.0−24.0, respectively. The two groups of data were smaller than the unmodified wood. The distribution range of lightness (L) value also decreased to 61.0−71.0, indicating that the modification had a balanced color tendency and a certain influence on the lightness and darkness of Chinese fir. (2) The parallel incident glossiness (GZL), vertical incident glossiness (GZT) and glossiness ratio (GZB) of unmodified wood were 5.54%, 4.32% and 1.28, respectively, and the GZL, GZT and GZB of modified Chinese fir were 3.32%, 2.86% and 1.16, respectively. The parallel grain glossiness GZL of the two kinds of wood was slightly higher than the straight grain glossiness GZT, showing a certain linear relationship. After modification, the linear trend of glossiness was more obvious, and the data were more centralized. (3) The texture roughness, spacing and density of the modified wood were 0.55 mm, 9.51 mm and 0.06, respectively, which showed that the modification had no effect on the wood texture. The gray distribution interval of the grain and background of the modified wood was lower than that of the unmodified wood, indicating that the modified wood made the gray level of the texture and background of the wood higher. The distribution of grain and background gray level of modified wood was looser than that of the unmodified wood. Though they had a certain linear relationship, while they were not compact.

  Conclusion  Silicate modification has little effect on wood color, and the wood basically maintaines its original color characteristics. In glossiness, the modified wood is slightly smaller than the unmodified wood, and the basic distribution law is the same. The effect of the modification on the grain spacing and the grain thickness is weak. The grain density of the modified wood is still the same as that of the unmodified wood. The difference between the gray value of the modified wood grain and the background gray value becomes larger, and the contrast is slightly higher, which makes the grain of the modified wood more obvious than that of the unmodified wood.