Dear Colleagues,

As it is natural, renewable, and environmentally friendly, wood is a highly versatile material used for many applications, including the production of tools, furniture, or art objects. Furthermore, its exceptional mechanical properties also make wood a preferable structural material for construction purposes. Some species of wood can be even stronger than steel or concrete are. Although wood mechanical properties have been broadly investigated, intensive research in this area is still in progress to provide more detailed knowledge of the relationships between woods’ structure, composition, and mechanical properties to further improve the performance in different environmental conditions, as well as broaden the applications.

This Special Issue aims to present updated knowledge related to the mechanical and viscoelastic performances of wood and wood-based materials under various conditions; to report on the enhancement of woods’ mechanical properties using different treatments; to review the relationships between woods’ structure, chemical composition, moisture content, and mechanical performance; and to demonstrate cutting-edge advances in the development of modern wood-based materials with enhanced mechanical properties.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The relationships between wood chemical composition and its mechanical properties;
• The effect of moisture on the mechanical and rheological properties of wood and wood-based materials;
• The mechanical properties of weathered and decayed wood;
• The effects of different treatments on the viscoelastic behavior and mechanical properties of wood and wood-based materials;
• The effects of wood structure and density on its mechanical properties and viscoelastic behavior;
• New methods and processes used to upgrade the mechanical performance of wood;
• The mechanical properties of wood-based composite materials;
• New methods for the assessment of wood viscoelastic behavior and mechanical properties;
• Novel wood-based materials;
• Mechanical properties of waterlogged wood and archaeological wood;
• Wood-based engineering materials;
• New methods and technology for wood processing.

We highly encourage contributions from all relevant fields in the form of original or review articles.

Prof. Dr. Hong Lei
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Materials 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 2600 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 modification
• wood-based composite
• wood-based engineering materials
• wood processing
• mechanical and rheological properties of wood
• wood preservation
• mechanical properties
• wood structure
• panel products