Effects of periodic temperature changes on stress relaxation of chemically treated wood

In order to clarify the relationship between the microstructural changes and the rheological behaviors of four chemically treated woods (delignified wood, hemicellulose-removed wood, DMSO swollen and decrystallization treated wood), the stress relaxation of wood with three different moisture contents was determined during periodic temperature changes. The experimental results show that after wood relaxation for 4 h at 25℃, the stress decays sharply when the temperature increases and 2 h later the stress recovers again when the temperature drops back to the original point. The additional stress relaxation, produced after temperature begins to increase, is mainly caused by the thermal swelling, molecular thermal movement and the break of a part of residual hydrogen bonds. The number of hydrogen bonds and the size and amount of cavities in various treated woods greatly affect themagnitude of the additional relaxed stress and the recovery stress.     

Abrasive wear properties of compressed sugi wood

We examined the abrasive wear properties and the effect of abrasive grain size on the rate of wear when sugi wood (Cryptomeria japonica D.Don), compressed to various densities, was rubbed with abrasive paper. The results showed that the wear resistance of compressed wood increased linearly with the increased compression ratio; and under the condition of a low compression ratio it tended to be higher in comparison with the strength of compressed wood. The critical grain size effect, which can be witnessed during the abrasive wear of metals and plastics, was seen when low pressure was applied to the abrasive material. At higher pressures, the wear rate of the compressed wood increased with grain size, but the critical grain size effect was not observed. The pressure required to create the critical grain size effect was found to be higher than that needed for other types of uncompressed wood with the same yield properties.Part of this report was presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Kyoto, April 2000     

Interaction between glycerin and wood at various temperatures from stress relaxation approach

In order to understand the reason why glycerin pre-treatment can accelerate the deformation fixation of compressed wood, the interaction between glycerin and wood at various temperatures was investigated in this study from stress relaxation approach. The compression stress relaxation curves of poplar (Populus cathayana Rehd.) samples impregnated with glycerin were measured at temperatures ranging from 25 to 180°C, together with the curves of oven-dry wood at temperatures between 100 and 180°C for comparison. The activation energy was calculated according to the Eyring’s absolute rate reaction theory. The results showed that temperature had very obvious effect on stress relaxation for both glycerin-treated wood (GTW) and oven-dry wood. The stress released very fast at higher temperatures. Glycerin showed an accelerating effect on stress relaxation. At temperatures exceeding 120°C, a complete relaxation of the stress could be expected. While for untreated wood, it cannot be reached until 160°C. By calculating the apparent activation energy (ΔE) of GTW at different temperatures, it is clear that two mechanisms are responsible for different temperature ranges. From 40 to 100°C, ΔE is only 8.24 kJ/mol, which corresponds to the hydrogen bonds formed between wood and glycerin molecules; from 120 to 180°C, ΔE reached 81.38 kJ/mol, which corresponds to the degradation of hemicelluloses or lignin, and during this process, new cross-linking would happen.     

Tensile stress relaxation of copper–ethanolamine (Cu–EA) treated wood

The tensile stress relaxation of Chinese fir wood treated with copper–ethanolamine (Cu–EA) was compared with that of untreated control to investigate the influence of Cu–EA treatment on the dimensional stability of wood in long-term application, and also for a better understanding of copper–wood–water interactions in copper containing water-borne preservative systems. The results showed that temperature and moisture conditions play important roles in the stress relaxation behavior of wood with or without Cu–EA treatment. At 25°C, Cu–EA treatment has little influence on stress relaxation; while at 35°C, Cu–EA treatment can significantly reduce the stress relaxation of wood, suggesting that Cu–EA treatment can increase dimensional stability of wood at high atmospheric temperature in long-term application. The complicated effect of copper retention on stress relaxation further confirms that copper competes for hydroxyl groups as adsorption sites with water molecules, as put forward in the previous report.     

Density profile and morphology of viscoelastic thermal compressed wood

The viscoelastic thermal compression (VTC) of low-density hybrid poplar (Populus deltoides × Populus trichocarpa) from fast growing trees was performed in order to produce specimens with three different degrees of densification (63, 98, and 132%). The morphology and density profile of the VTC specimens were studied. Three different methods for the preparation of specimens for microscopy were used in order to find a technique that makes it possible to examine the VTC wood microscopically in the completely deformed state. It was found that the abrasive surface preparation of oil-embedded blocks was the most promising technique. Microscopic observation revealed that the deformations in the VTC wood were mostly the result of the viscous buckling of cell walls without fracture. The volume of the void areas in the specimens decreased with the degree of densification. The results showed that the density profile of the VTC wood varied with the degree of densification as a consequence of different temperature and moisture gradients formed before and during wood compression. The density profile is also visible on the cross-section of the VTC specimens.     

Factors of affecting the spring back of compressed Paulownis wood

lnstructionP8ulowniagenus(PauIOwnissieb.atZucc.)isorigina'tedfromSoutheastAsiaandintroducedintoEurope,NorthAmericaandAustraliaforplantation(Giebeler1983).Thereare9speciesand2varietiesinthisfamily(Zhu1981).PaulowniatreeisonekindofgrowingfasttimberinChinawithabroaddistributioninallthecountry.ThemaintimberproducingareaisinnorthernplainofChinainwhichtheP8ulowniaisplantedwithcrops.ItiswellacceptedbyChinese,Japanese,Koreanduetoitsbeautifulgrainandlovelylusteraswellasitsstabledimension.Thecro…     

Factors of affecting the spring back of compressed Paulownia wood

In order to increase its hardness and gravity as well as dimension stability, the technology of hotcompressing on Paulownia wood was studied. The main factors of affecting the spring back of the compressed Paulownia samples were discussed. It was discovered that every factor in the experiment had obvious effects on wood hardness and dimension stability of compressed wood. When the MC (Moisture Content) of experimental specimens was 13.89%, it was useful to spray water on the surface of samples before hot pressing. The best resuit was the recovery of compression set could decrease from 90.69% of untreated wood to 45.51% of soaking specimens into PF (Phenol Formaldehyde) water solution. The hot pressing time was 8 min at 190 ℃.     

Effect of shear deflection on vibrational properties of compressed wood

In this paper, we have investigated vibrational properties of compressed Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don). The test specimens were compressed in the radial direction at 180°C for 5 h. Compression ratios (the ratio of deformation to the initial thickness) were 33% and 67%, and the vibrational properties were measured by free-free flexural vibration test. The contribution of shear deflection was large when the length-to-depth ratio was small and the Youngs modulus to shear modulus ratio was large. The Youngs to shear modulus ratio increased as the compression ratio increased and was larger under vibration in the radial than in the tangential direction. The loss tangent increased when the contribution of shear deflection to total measured flexural deflection increased.     

Chemical reactivity of heat-treated wood

Chemical reactivity of heat-treated wood was compared with that of untreated wood. For this purpose, heat-treated pine or beech sawdust was reacted with different carboxylic acid anhydrides in pyridine or with phenyl isocyanate in dimethyl formamide. Compared to controls, weight gains obtained with heat-treated sawdust are smaller showing a lower chemical reactivity. FTIR analyses of lignin and holocellulose fractions, isolated after acidic hydrolysis of polysaccharides or delignification with sodium chlorite, indicate that both components are involved in the reactions. Compared to lignin, holocellulose exhibits important infrared absorptions of about 1,730 cm⁻¹, characteristic of ester or urethane linkages formed. Lower reactivity of heat-treated sawdust is explained by the decrease in free reactive hydroxyl groups in holocellulose due to the thermal degradation of hemicelluloses, considered more reactive than cellulose.     

Creep and stress relaxation behavior for natural cellulose crystal of wood cell wall under uniaxial tensile stress in the fiber direction

We investigated the temporal changes in creep and stress relaxation behavior in both microscopic crystalline cellulose and macroscopic strain of wood specimen using Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa Endl.) to understand the viscoelastic properties of wood cell walls. Specimens 600 µm in thickness were observed by the X-ray diffraction and submitted to tensile load. The crystal lattice strain of (004) plane and macroscopic strain of specimen were continuously detected during creep and stress relaxation tests. It was found that the creep compliance based on macroscopic strain showed a gradual increase after instantaneous deformation due to loading and then the parts of creep deformation remained as permanent strain after unloading. On the other hand, crystal lattice strain showed a different behavior for macroscopic strain; it kept a constant value after instantaneous deformation due to loading and then increased gradually after a certain period of time. These differences between macroscopic and microscopic levels were never found in the stress relaxation tests in this study. Relaxation modulus at the macroscopic level only showed a decreasing trend throughout the relaxation process. However crystal lattice strain kept a constant value during the macroscopic relaxation process. In addition, the microfibril angle (MFA) of wood cell wall has a role of mechanical behavior at microscopic level; crystal lattice strains were smaller with increasing MFA at both creep and relaxation processes. Creep compliance and stress relaxation modulus at the macroscopic level decreased and increased with increasing MFA, respectively. Our results on the viscoelastic behavior at microscopic level evidenced its dependency on MFA.     

Effects of quenching on relaxation properties of wet wood

A new relaxation property is discussed on the basis of creep behavior of wet wood specimens pretreated with heating at various temperatures followed by quenching. The treated samples showed more marked relaxation than that of an untreated sample. The relationship between relaxation time and heating history was represented by an equation ln() = –( _f – k ₁)T + [ln( _g) + k ₂], where ln() is the logarithmic relaxation time of wet samples after quenching, T is the difference between the heating temperature and the glass transition temperature (T _g), ln( _g) is the logarithmic relaxation time at T _g, is a constant, _f is the coefficient of thermal bulk expansion, and k ₁ and k ₂ are constants. It was concluded from the analysis of experimental results that the change in the relaxation property caused by heating and the following quenching is due to the temporary free volume created by freezing of molecular chain motion of wood components, most probably lignin, during quenching.This work was presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of Japan Wood Research Society, Gifu, April 2002     

Stress relaxation of wood at several levels of strain

Summary Stress relaxation tests were performed with six tropical American species. Stress relaxation was not found to be a linear function of strain at any level of strain. At qual low levels of strain, stress relaxation in compression was much greater than in tension.A mechanical model consisting of an isolated spring in parallel with a spring and dashpot in series was used as an aid in the derivation of equations describing stress relaxation.An attempt to apply Newtonian viscous theory to the model was unsuccessful in accounting for rate of relaxation. However, when the hyperbolic sine law of viscous flow was applied, mathematically derived curves fitted the data very well.Stress relaxation appears to be related to departure strain which may be obtained readily from static stress strain diagrams.

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Zusammenfassung Versuche über die Spannungsrelaxation wurden mit sechs tropischen Holzarten Amerikas durchgeführt. Es erwies sich, daß die Spannungsrelaxation nicht in jedem Bereich der Dehnung eine lineare Funktion dieser Dehnung ist. In vergleichbar niedrigen Dehnungsbereichen zeigte sich zum Beispiel, daß die Spannungsrelaxation bei Druck größer ist als bei Zugbeanspruchung. Mit Hilfe eines mechanischen Modells, bestehend aus einer einzelnen Feder in Parallelschaltung zu einer Feder mit Dämpfungselement wurden Gleichungen zur Beschreibung der Spannungsrelaxation abgeleitet.Der Versuch die Newtonschen Viskositätsgesetze auf dieses Modell anzuwenden, schlug aufgrund der Relaxationsgeschwíndigkeit fehl. Bei Anwendung des hyperbolischen Sinussatzes für viskoses Fließen stimmten jedoch die ermittelten Werte recht gut mit den mathematisch berechneten Kurvenwerten überein.Die Spannungsrelaxation scheint mit der sogenannten Anfangsdehnung zusammenzuhängen, wie man sie stets bei statischen Spannungs-Dehnungsschaubildern erhält.

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A condensation of a dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Yale School of Forestry as partial fulfillment of the requirements of the D. For. degree.

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This research is part of a comprehensive study being conducted at the Yale School of Forestry in cooperation with the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, under Contract Nonr 609 (13), Project NR 330-001, Properties of Tropical Woods. The author acknowledges the fellowships granted by the Organization of American States, and the Instituto Nacional de la Investigación Científica de México. The author wishes to thank Professor Frederick F. Wangaard for his counsel and assistance, and Professors Robert M. Kellogg and Robert P. Vreeland for encouragement and assistance.     

不同处理方法对杨树木材压缩变形恢复率的研究

采用加热和水蒸气处理方法对人工林杨树木材进行压缩变形恢复率的研究,目的是为了改善人工林软质木材的材性,提高其尺寸稳定性。结果表明:加热和水蒸气处理都是固定人工林木材压缩变形的有效方法;在处理温度相同时,水蒸气处理方法只需要4 min或8 min,而高温加热处理需要10 h或20 h。水蒸气处理方法更加经济。     

Modeling the kinetics of moisture adsorption by wood

Summary Modeling of the kinetic of moisture adsorption by wood has been studied by using cubic samples. The model is based on an explicit numerical method with finite differences. Experiments have been carried out either for determining the data necessary for calculations (diffusivity, amount adsorbed at equilibrium) and for testing the validity of the model. Two different experiments have been done in case of the longitudinal adsorption: the one by increasing the relative humidity of the atmosphere following a discontinuous step by step process. The other by determining the kinetic adsorption of moisture by samples previously equilibrated under the same conditions when they are contacted with atmosphere at various R. H. Good correlations are obtained between calculated values and experiments in both cases. Although the actual paper is concerned with constant diffusivity, the model is capable to use concentration-dependent diffusivities.This work has been done with the help and support of the French C.T.B. (Wood Technical Center), 10 Av. St.-Mandé, Paris     

Microstructure of viscoelastic thermal compressed (VTC) wood using computed microtomography

The paper describes for the first time the analysis of the structure of compressed wood using computed tomography. The anatomical structures of Douglas-fir and hybrid poplar before and after densification with the viscoelastic thermal compression (VTC) process were described by pore size distributions and mean pore sizes and compared. The compression of Douglas-fir mainly affected earlywood, while the compression of hybrid poplar mainly occurred in the vessels. In both wood species, the densification resulted in a significant decrease in the pore volumes. The porosity decreased to less than half of the original value for Douglas-fir earlywood and to approximately one-quarter for the vessels in hybrid poplar. The relevant mean pore sizes also decreased dramatically to about one-quarter compared to the original values. In contrast, latewood in Douglas-fir and libriform fibers in hybrid poplar are quite stable under compression. Douglas-fir latewood retained its original structure after compression and did not show any reduction in pore size. The results confirmed that the anatomical structure of VTC densified wood can be described by pore size distributions and mean pore sizes. However, in the case of broad or bimodal distributions, the mean pore sizes are of less significance.     

Manufacture of compressed wood fixed by phenolic resin impregnation through drilled holes

An aqueous solution of phenolic resin was impregnated through drilled holes in wood, and we manufactured compressed wood with the deformation fixed by the phenolic resin. The methods of impregnation used in this study were an in-liquid platen-pressing method and a vacuum treatment. The effect of the drilled holes on solution retention was examined. Moreover, the control of solution retention was examined under the application of compression drying. The impregnation of resin into the specimens without drilled holes was insufficient, and the deformation could not be fixed. On the other hand, sufficient impregnation was possible in the specimen with drilled holes, and the deformation fixation was observed. At the stage of compression when the solution was squeezed out of the specimen, the solution retention of each specimen was accurately controlled in the specimens with drilled holes. At the stage of compressive deformation and deformation fixation using a hot press, the specimens without drilled holes could not be processed normally because swelling occurred. However, swelling did not occur in the specimens with drilled holes. Part of this report was presented at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Chubu Branch of the Japan Wood Research Society in Matsumoto, November 2006     

Stress relaxation of wood during elevating and lowering processes of temperature and the set after relaxation II: consideration of the mechanism and simulation of stress relaxation behavior using a viscoelastic model

Previously we showed that the relaxation modulusEt of water-saturated wood during temperature reduction maintained its initial value despite the decrease in temperature, although during temperature elevationEt showed a marked decrease. In the present study, to clarify the mechanism of relaxation during temperature elevation and reduction, Young's modulus was measured in stress relaxation experiments with changes in temperature, and relaxation behavior was simulated using a Maxwell model consisting of five elements. Furthermore, the dynamic Young's modulus and dynamic loss modulus were measured during both temperature elevation and reduction. The results obtained suggested that the unique relaxation behavior during temperature reduction was caused by decreases in Young's modulus and coefficient of viscosity (i.e., an increase in fluidity) compared with those during elevation of temperature. The decrease in Young's modulus and increase in fluidity were considered to be due to an unstable structure in wood that occurred during temperature reduction. This unstable structure probably develops in the nonequilibrium state of temperature toward a true equilibrium state. Wood should be more unstable during temperature reduction than during temperature elevation because of the decrease in molecular motion when the temperature is lowered.Part of this report was presented at the 49th annual meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Tokyo, April 1999