scholarly journals Viscoelastic properties of thermo-hydro-mechanically treated beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) determined using dynamic mechanical analysis

Author(s):  
Andreja Kutnar ◽  
Jane O’Dell ◽  
Christopher Hunt ◽  
Charles Frihart ◽  
Frederick Kamke ◽  
...  

AbstractThermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processing can improve the intrinsic properties of wood, produce new materials, and give desired form and function to new applications. THM treatments change the mechanical properties of wood and may change its viscoelastic properties as well. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the viscoelastic properties of THM-treated wood at several humidity and load levels. To explore these changes, this study applied a THM treatment to beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) wood with steam (620 kPa) and heat (170 °C), followed by densification and increased temperature (200 °C) in a hot-press, which was then cooled while under pressure. Two initial specimen thicknesses before THM treatment were used to study the difference between density ratios. Specimens were tested in a humidity-controlled dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA) to apply creep stress with different loading levels (20% and 30% of expected modulus of rupture) and relative humidity levels (30%, 50%, and 65% RH). The creep compliance/recovery response was monitored, and dynamic moduli were measured before and after the application of creep stress. The loss modulus measured was highest for specimens tested at 65% RH and lowest in specimens tested at 30% RH, which is a direct result of the viscous response of the material. Increased damping of the specimens was also observed at higher RH, which is typical for wood products due to added moisture in the cell wall acting as a plasticizer to cell wall polymers. Like previous studies, THM treatment lowered the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of densified wood specimens, which affected their mechanical performance. THM treatment yields higher strength and lower EMC, suggesting that this product could be suitable for structural applications where their service life is in an indoor environment. THM treatment also resulted in decreased creep compliance and recovery compliance as compared to control specimens.

Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveen Jesuarockiam ◽  
Mohammad Jawaid ◽  
Edi Syams Zainudin ◽  
Mohamed Thariq Hameed Sultan ◽  
Ridwan Yahaya

The aim of the present research work is to enhance the thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of Kevlar/Cocos nucifera sheath (CS)/epoxy composites with graphene nano platelets (GNP). Laminates were fabricated through the hand lay-up method followed by hot pressing. GNP at different wt.% (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75) were incorporated with epoxy resin through ultra-sonication. Kevlar/CS composites with different weight ratios (100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75, 0/100) were fabricated while maintaining a fiber/matrix weight ratio at 45/55. Thermal degradation and viscoelastic properties were evaluated using thermogravimetric analysys (TGA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis, and a dynamic mechanical analyser (DMA). The obtained results revealed that Kevlar/CS (25/75) hybrid composites at 0.75 wt.% of GNP exhibited similar thermal stability compared to Kevlar/epoxy (100/0) composites at 0 wt.% of GNP. It has been corroborated with DSC observation that GNP act as a thermal barrier. However, DMA results showed that the Kevlar/CS (50/50) hybrid composites at 0.75 wt.% of GNP exhibited almost equal viscoelastic properties compared to Kevlar/epoxy (100/0) composites at 0 wt.% GNP due to effective crosslinking, which improves the stress transfer rate. Hence, this research proved that Kevlar can be efficiently (50%) replaced with CS at an optimal GNP loading for structural applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Lijuan Ping ◽  
Yubo Chai ◽  
Fangwen Zhang ◽  
Bailing Sun ◽  
Junliang Liu

In the study, we report that a safe and simple way for upgrading inferior rubber wood through the combined modification of environment-friendly MUG resin was synthesized from glyoxal, melamine, urea, and other additives. MUG-treated wood samples were prepared with six different MUG resin concentrations (5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 wt %) into the wood matrix and then heated and polymerized to form a solid and hydrophobic MUG resin in the wood scaffold, and the physico-mechanical properties were evaluated. As the MUG resin concentration increased, the weight percent gain and density increased, water uptake and leachability decreased, and the antiswelling efficiency increased at first and then decreased. MUG-treated wood sample can be prepared when the MUG resin concentration was set as 25%, and the physical properties of treated wood was optimum. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis showed that the MUG resin is widely distributed in the cell lumens and cell walls. With enhanced physico-mechanical properties, MUG-treated wood sample can be well used as a promising alternative to existing engineered wood products for structural applications.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia M. Grad ◽  
Isabell Tunn ◽  
Dion Voerman ◽  
Alberto S. de Léon ◽  
Roel Hammink ◽  
...  

Biological materials combine stress relaxation and self-healing with non-linear stress-strain responses. These characteristic features are a direct result of hierarchical self-assembly, which often results in fiber-like architectures. Even though structural knowledge is rapidly increasing, it has remained a challenge to establish relationships between microscopic and macroscopic structure and function. Here, we focus on understanding how network topology determines the viscoelastic properties, i.e. stress relaxation, of biomimetic hydrogels. We have dynamically crosslinked two different synthetic polymers with one and the same crosslink. The first polymer, a polyisocyanopeptide (PIC), self-assembles into semi-flexible, fiber-like bundles and thus displays stress-stiffening, similar to many biopolymer networks. The second polymer, 4-arm poly(ethylene glycol) (starPEG), serves as a reference network with well-characterized structural and viscoelastic properties. Using one and the same coiled coil crosslink allows us to decouple the effects of crosslink kinetics and network topology on the stress relaxation behavior of the resulting hydrogel networks. We show that the fiber-containing PIC network displays a relaxation time approximately two orders of magnitude slower than the starPEG network. This reveals that crosslink kinetics is not the only determinant for stress relaxation. Instead, we propose that the different network topologies determine the ability of elastically active network chains to relax stress. In the starPEG network, each elastically active chain contains exactly one crosslink. In the absence of entanglements, crosslink dissociation thus relaxes the entire chain. In contrast, each polymer is crosslinked to the fiber bundle in multiple positions in the PIC hydrogel. The dissociation of a single crosslink is thus not sufficient for chain relaxation. This suggests that tuning the number of crosslinks per elastically active chain in combination with crosslink kinetics is a powerful design principle for tuning stress relaxation in polymeric materials. The presence of a higher number of crosslinks per elastically active chain thus yields materials with a slow macroscopic relaxation time but fast dynamics at the microscopic level. Using this principle for the design of synthetic cell culture matrices will yield materials with excellent long-term stability combined with the ability to locally reorganize, thus facilitating cell motility, spreading and growth.


Holzforschung ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahime Bag ◽  
Johnny Beaugrand ◽  
Patrice Dole ◽  
Bernard Kurek

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the effect of removing extractives from the woody core of hemp (chènevotte) on the chain mobility of hemicelluloses and lignins, which can react during technological transformation such as de-fibering and/or composite materials production. Extractives are molecules with low molecular weight, which are present in the cell wall matrix and can be readily removed by solvents. In the present paper, the nature and amounts of extractives, removed under different conditions and with solvents of different polarities, were determined. The mobility and structural relaxations of lignins and hemicelluloses were stu-died in situ by dynamic mechanical analysis and dielectric analysis under controlled moisture content. Extractions at low temperature led to rigidification of lignins and plasticizing of hemicelluloses, probably due to local changes by the selective removal of molecules interacting with the polymers. Probably, the accessibility of hemicelluloses to plasticizing water was increased at controlled humidity. In contrast, hot extractions including water induced rigidification of the hemi-celluloses and plasticizing of lignins. This could be related to a combination of molecule extractions and chemical modi-fications of both polymers. This interpretation is supported by the variation of activation energy for relaxation of hemi-celluloses. It can be concluded that each type of extraction has a clear specific effect on the relaxation properties of the amorphous cell wall polymers.


Author(s):  
Roja Esmaeeli ◽  
Ashkan Nazari ◽  
Haniph Aliniagerdroudbari ◽  
Seyed Reza Hashemi ◽  
Muapper Alhadri ◽  
...  

The viscoelastic properties of rubbers play an important role in dynamic applications and are commonly measured and quantified by means of Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) tests. The rubber properties including the static and dynamic moduli are a function of temperature; and an increase in the temperature leads to a decrease in both moduli of the rubber. Due to the heat generation inside the rubber during the DMA test and the possible change of the rubber properties it is important to quantify the amount of temperature rise in the rubber specimen during the test. In this study, a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model is used to predict the heat generation and temperature rise during the rubber DMA tests. This model is used to identify the best shape of the specimen to achieve the minimum increase in temperature during the test. The double sandwich shear test and the cyclic compression tests are considered in this study because these two tests are mostly used in industry to predict the rubber viscoelastic properties.


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