Preface

I spent my simple and happy childhood in Wuxi, a beautiful city by Lake Tai in China. I admired my father for being a wood science professor, and for his ability to make beautiful wooden furniture. Very often, I helped hold a wood board when he drilled a hole in it and passed nails to him. I found that wood is such an easy material to play with. My father shared many stories with me about wood when he discovered my curiosities and interest in the matter. Ginkgo is one of the most suitable wood species for use as cutting boards. Ash can be readily bent after being soaked in hot water, good for making curved arms for chairs. Chinese fir is a smart choice for building a house. My father always encouraged me to explore the science behind these stories. In the summer before I started my university life, I assisted my father to use bamboo fibers and phenol resin to make the shuttles for knitting cloth, which required a super impact strength and minimal friction resistance. During my undergraduate studies, I majored in wood-based composites, understanding that wood can be modified to produce various types of products to meet the needs of everyday life. Back in the 1990s, and likely nowadays as well, wood and wood products were mainly used for making furniture and decorating interiors. With an aim to broaden my horizons, I went to Canada to pursue my doctoral degree in 1995.

Canada is a forest-rich country that utilizes lumber to construct more than 90% of its residential houses and buildings. With the change in raw materials, many engineered wood products (EWPs) such as parallel strand lumber, laminated veneer lumber, and cross-laminated timber have been invented as a substitution for conventional lumber products. These EWPs are fabricated with wood elements (such as strands, veneer, and lumber) and adhesives and/or fasteners (such as nails and dowels) for use in structural applications. Use of adhesives, dry wood elements, heat, and pressure in the manufacturing of EWPs provides them with two great advantages over sawn timber: stable dimensions and uniform properties. Moreover, the designability of EWPs makes it much easier for these products to meet market requirements than it is for solid wood products to do so. These merits of EWPs have been attracting architects, engineers, and builders to adopt EWPs in their design and construction of buildings. The current National Building Code of Canada allows for the construction of wood buildings up to 12 stories. Canadian research scientists and code developers have been working hard towards a very ambiguous but feasible and promising goal, which is to allow people to select EWPs in the same way as they choose steel or concrete in the construction of tall buildings in 2025.

Unusual weather, such as flooding and snowstorms, has been occurring worldwide for the last few decades. It is widely recognized that forests and wood products play a critical role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Forests can sequester carbon and wood products can continue to store carbon over their lifespan, particularly structural wood building products that can last 50 to 100 years. This is a benefit of using wood rather than fossil fuel-intensive materials such as steel and concrete. Furthermore, we can recycle and reuse wood products at the end of their lifespan, which can help store carbon for an extended time. Therefore, increasing the use of forest wood can help mitigate climate change.

This book is a product 'fabricated' by authors from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, India, Malaysia, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United States. It discusses EWPs, their uses in construction, and their contributions to reducing the construction industry's carbon footprint. The book is divided into two sections that address general overviews and applications of EWPs and recent research and development of EWPs.

The first section contains eight chapters discussing EWPs in terms of definition, classification, design principle, basic manufacturing processes, and mechanical properties. They also examine the perspectives of using EWPs from architects and builders, design considerations, and life cycle assessment on carbon.

The second section includes twelve chapters that address the development, improvement, and prospect of EWPs from material science to structural performance, including element size effect, adhesive bonding evaluation, preservative treatment, Industry 4.0 manufacturing, dovetail joint technique, architectural modelling, and protection from lightning.

This book provides a general picture of the state of art of EWPs in construction, making it a valuable reference for manufacturers, engineers, architects, builders, researchers, and students in the field of construction. I am grateful to all the chapter authors for their contributions. I also appreciate the support provided by IntechOpen and its author service managers and editorial and publication staff throughout all stages of production.

Wood is a gift from nature. The use of wood and EWPs helps reduce adverse environmental effects and thus improves human wellbeing. My love for wood was triggered by my father and encouraged by my mother. There will never be enough words to express my gratitude towards my parents. I sincerely wish they lead a healthy life and enjoy their retirement. I also express my thanks to my wife and my son for their understanding and support.

> **Meng Gong** Wood Science and Technology Centre, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada

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