Study on the in-process measurements of the surface roughness of Douglas fir green veneers with the use of laser profilometer

The presented research concerns the use of a laser profilometer to measure the surface roughness of green Douglas fir heartwood veneers during the peeling process. It investigates the effect of various process parameters on the surface quality. Three experiments were carried out with a single variable factor for each experiment: log centration, soaking temperature and cutting speed. Moreover, the origin of the surface roughness of Douglas fir green veneers was investigated. The study shows that laser profilometer seems to be a useful equipment in online measurement of surface roughness of green veneers. Based on the experiment results it was stated that surface roughness of Douglas fir veneers is characterized by large differentiation depending on the location on the veneer. The performed analysis shows that the surface roughness of Douglas fir green veneer could be improved when using relatively high cutting speed, not too high steaming temperature and logs with a centered core. The presented study shows that the laser profilometer can be effectively applied to the measurement and evaluation of green veneers during the peeling process and that there is still an area to develop this methodology.