Micro-and nano-scales three-dimensional characterisation of softwood

Alessandra Patera*, Anne Bonnin, Rajmund Mokso

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

75 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Understanding the mechanical response of cellular biological materials to environmental stimuli is of fundamental importance from an engineering perspective in composites. To provide a deep understanding of their behaviour, an exhaustive analytical and experimental protocol is required. Attention is focused on softwood but the approach can be applied to a range of cellular materials. This work presents a new non-invasive multi-scale approach for the investigation of the hygro-mechanical behaviour of softwood. At the TOMCAT beamline of the Paul Scherrer Institute, in Switzerland, the swelling behaviour of softwood was probed at the cellular and sub-cellular scales by means of 3D high-resolution phase-contrast X-ray imaging. At the cellular scale, new findings in the anisotropic and reversible swelling behaviour of softwood and in the origin of swelling hysteresis of porous materials are explained from a mechanical perspective. However, the mechanical and moisture properties of wood highly depend on sub-cellular features of the wood cell wall, such as bordered pits, yielding local deformations during a full hygroscopic loading protocol.

Original languageEnglish
Article number263
JournalJournal of Imaging
Volume7
Issue number12
Number of pages16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Non-rigid strain
  • Phase-contrast X ray imaging
  • Softwood
  • Swelling/shrinkage

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Micro-and nano-scales three-dimensional characterisation of softwood'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this