Deformation of wood in compression during moisture movement

Abstract

This work presents the phenomenon of mechano-sorptive strain in the deformation of wood during moisture content (MC) changes. A series of experiments were designed to demonstrate the greatly enhanced deformation due to the mechano- sorptive effect. The purpose of this work is to show the magnitude of mechano-sorptive creep compared to the ordinary viscoelastic creep with applied compressive load. In order to do this, the moisture movement with MC change, moisture movement without MC change and conditions without moisture movement were induced. The unique patterns of strains of various conditions induced in the experiments were observed. The characteristics shown in results were evaluated logically and compared to existing theories to confirm their validity. With the presence of mechano-sorptive, the maximumstrains of Jelutong (dyera costulata) wood specimens loaded at 200N is 0.433x10-3. The severest deformation is caused by the increasing MC in the wood specimen, attributed to the mechano-sorptive (MS) effect.