WCO Explanatory Notes reproduced for reference. © World Customs Organization. Verify against official WCO publication.
44.13 Densified wood, in blocks, plates, strips or profile shapes. Densified wood covered by this heading has been chemically or physically treated to increase its density or hardness and improve its mechanical stren or resistance to chemical or electrical agencies. Such wood n a y be solid or consist of sever layers bonded together, in the latter case the treatment applied being in excess of that required merely to produce a good bond between the layers. $" Two main processes, impregnation and densification, are used to produce the products of this heading. These processes rnay be used separately or together. In impregnation the wood is deeply impregnated, usually with thermosetting plastics or with molten metal. Impregnation with thermosettin plastics (e.g., amino-resins or phenolic resins) is more often applied to ve thin veneers bui t up into larmnated wood than to solid wood, since penetration is thereby facztated. B Metallised wood is obtained by plun in pieces of solid wood, previously heated, into a bath of molten metal (e.g., tin, antimony, t a g bismuth or their alloys) under pressure in a closed vessel. The density of metallised wood generally exceeds 3.5 g/cm . Densification has the effect of contracting the cells of the wood; this may be done by transverse corn ression by means of powerful hydraulic presses or between rollers, or by compression in all irections at high temperature in an autoclave. Densified wood may have a density as great as 1.4 g/cm3. Impregnation and densification may be carried out simultaneonsly by glueing very thin sheets of wood (usually beech) with thermosetting plastics under hea pressure at a high temperature so that the wood is deeply impregnated and compressed as we as bonded. 'K Densified wood is generally used in the manufacture of gears, shuttles, bearings and other machine parts, propellers, insulators and other electric goods, vessels for the chermcal industry, etc.
1.- This Chapter does not cover : (a) Wood, in chips, in shavings, crushed, ground or powdered, of a kind used primarily in perfumery, in pharmacy, or for insecticidal, fungicidal or similar purposes (heading 12.11); (b) Bamboos or other materials of a woody nature of a kind used primarily for plaiting, in the rough, whether or not split, sawn lengthwise or cut to length (heading 14.01); (c) Wood, in chips, in shavings, ground or powdered, of a kind used primarily in dyeing or in tanning (heading 14.04); (d) Activated charcoal (heading 38.02); (e) Articles of heading 42.02; (f) Goods of Chapter 46; (g) Footwear or parts thereof of Chapter 64; (h) Goods of Chapter 66 (for example, umbrellas and walking-sticks and parts thereof); (ij) Goods of heading 68.08; (k) Imitation jewellery of heading 71.17; (l) Goods of Section XVI or Section XVII (for example, machine parts, cases, covers, cabinets for machines and apparatus and wheelwrights' wares); (m) Goods of Section XVIII (for example, clock cases and musical instruments and parts thereof); (n) Parts of firearms (heading 93.05); (o) Articles of Chapter 94 (for example, furniture, luminaires and lighting fittings, prefabricated buildings); (p) Articles of Chapter 95 (for example, toys, games, sports requisites); (q) Articles of Chapter 96 (for example, smoking pipes and parts thereof, buttons, pencils, and monopods, bipods, tripods and similar articles) excluding bodies and handles, of wood, for articles of heading 96.03; or (r) Articles of Chapter 97 (for example, works of art). 2.- In this Chapter, the expression “densified wood” means wood which has been subjected to chemical or physical treatment (being, in the case of layers bonded together, treatment in excess of that needed to ensure a good bond), and which has thereby acquired increased density or hardness together with improved mechanical strength or resistance to chemical or electrical agencies. 3.- Headings 44.14 to 44.21 apply to articles of the respective descriptions of particle board or similar board, fibreboard, laminated wood or densified wood as they apply to such articles of wood.