Change of cutting parameters and their influence on the particle size distribution when sanding thermally modified material

The research was focused on wood dust generated during the sanding of native pine wood and two types of heat-treated pine wood (Thermo-S and Thermo-D). The aim of the research was to assess the effect of feed speed and type of workpiece on the generation of wood dust. The experiment was performed on a Buldog 7 wide belt sander. The dust generated during sanding was subjected to particle size analysis by means of Retsch AS 200-digit apparatus on a set of sieves with mesh sizes 1000, 500, 250 and 100 μm. The laser particle sizer Analysette 22 Microtec Plus was used to determine the size distribution of dust particles smaller than 100 μm. The obtained results showed the influence of thermal modification and feed speed on the generation of wood dust. The heat-treated wood produces more fine dust than native wood. The higher the modification temperature, the higher the fine dust content. It has been found that the fine dust content increases with decreasing feed speed.