Hygromorphic behaviour of cellular material: hysteretic swelling and shrinkage of wood probed by phase contrast X-ray tomography

Derome, Dominique; Rafsanjani, Ahmad; Patera, Alessandra; Guyer, R. A.; Carmeliet, Jan

doi:10.1080/14786435.2012.715248

Cited by 47 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…We note that cellulose Ib (Bergenstrahle et al 2007;Matthews et al 2006;Mazeau and Heux 2003;Bergenstrahle et al 2008b) and amorphous cellulose have been modeled and studied by MD simulations in earlier studies (Mazeau and Heux 2003;Liao et al 2012;Chen et al 2004aChen et al , b, 2007. However, here we present a computational approach to obtaining wellequilibrated amorphous structures and present a new analysis comparing amorphous cellulose properties with available experimental results and the characteristics of crystalline cellulose (Derome et al 2012). Moreover, we demonstrate that cellulose Ib undergoes a phase transition at 500 K, confirming experimental observations (Wada et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

A comparative molecular dynamics study of crystalline, paracrystalline and amorphous states of cellulose

et al. 2014

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The quintessential form of cellulose in wood consists of microfibrils that have high aspect ratio crystalline domains embedded within an amorphous cellulose domain. In this study, we apply unitedatom molecular dynamics simulations to quantify changes in different morphologies of cellulose. We compare the structure of crystalline cellulose with paracrystalline and amorphous phases that are both obtained by high temperature equilibration followed by quenching at room temperature. Our study reveals that the paracrystalline phase may be an intermediate, kinetically arrested phase formed upon amorphisation of crystalline cellulose. The quenched structures yield isotropic amorphous polymer domains consistent with experimental results, thereby validating a new computational protocol for achieving amorphous cellulose structure. The non-crystalline cellulose compared to crystalline structure is characterized by a dramatic decrease in elastic modulus, thermal expansion coefficient, bond energies, and number of hydrogen bonds. Analysis of the lattice parameters shows that Ib cellulose undergoes a phase transition into hightemperature phase in the range of 450-550 K. The mechanisms of the phase transition elucidated here present an atomistic view of the temperature dependent dynamic structure and mechanical properties of cellulose. The paracrystalline state of cellulose exhibits intermediate mechanical properties, between crystalline and amorphous phases, that can be assigned to the physical properties of the interphase regions between crystalline and amorphous cellulose in wood microfibrils. Our results suggest an atomistic structural view of amorphous cellulose which is consistent with Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

A comparative molecular dynamics study of crystalline, paracrystalline and amorphous states of cellulose

et al. 2014

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“…The four datasets are analysed with 3D image analysis tools in order to determine the level of swelling/shrinkage in the tangential, radial and longitudinal directions of wood. As confirmed from our previous studies [1,2,20], the longitudinal strains measured here tend to zero and so are not presented further during this analysis.…”

Section: Three-dimensional Image Analysis On Different Roissupporting

confidence: 64%

Micro-Scale Restraint Methodology for Humidity Induced Swelling Investigated by Phase Contrast X-Ray Tomography

et al. 2014

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A new methodology for restraining the swelling of spruce wood samples in the micrometre range is developed and presented. We show that the restraining device successfully prevents the free swelling of wood during moisture adsorption, thus modifying significantly the anisotropy of swelling and provoking the intended collapse and large deformations of the wood cells at the edges of the sample in contact with the restraining device. The device consists in a slotted cube designed t o r e s t r a i n s w e l l i n g a n d i s m a d e o f P M M A manufactured by laser ablation. The sample undergoing the restraining experiment is imaged with highresolution synchrotron radiation phase contrast X-Ray Tomographic Microscopy. The deformation of the restraining device itself is only approximately 2 μm with respect to a 500 μm width in cubes containing latewood samples and half of that in the case of cubes containing earlywood.

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“…it swells in wetting and shrinks upon drying [1,2]. By nature, wood has a complex hierarchical microstructure, giving rise to an anisotropic mechanical and swelling behaviour across multiple scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of latewood cell wall micropillars reveal ultrastructural anisotropy

Rafsanjani

Stiefel

Jefimovs

et al. 2014

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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We document the hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of the central and the thickest secondary cell wall layer of wood (named S2) in response to changes in environmental humidity using synchrotron radiation-based phase contrast X-ray tomographic nanoscopy. The S2 layer is a natural fibre-reinforced nanocomposite polymer and is strongly reactive to water. Using focused ion beam, micropillars with a cross section of few micrometres are fabricated from the S2 layer of the latewood cell walls of Norway spruce softwood. The thin neighbouring cell wall layers are removed to prevent hindering or restraining of moisture-induced deformation during swelling or shrinkage. The proposed experiment intended to get further insights into the microscopic origin of the anisotropic hygro-expansion of wood. It is found that the swelling/shrinkage strains are highly anisotropic in the transverse plane of the cell wall, larger in the normal than in the direction parallel to the cell wall's thickness. This ultrastructural anisotropy may be due to the concentric lamellation of the cellulose microfibrils as the role of the cellulose microfibril angle in the transverse swelling anisotropy is negligible. The volumetric swelling of the cell wall material is found to be substantially larger than the one of wood tissues within the growth ring and wood samples made of several growth rings. The hierarchical configuration in wood optimally increases its dimensional stability in response to a humid environment with higher scales of complexity.

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Hygromorphic behaviour of cellular material: hysteretic swelling and shrinkage of wood probed by phase contrast X-ray tomography

Cited by 47 publications

References 30 publications

A comparative molecular dynamics study of crystalline, paracrystalline and amorphous states of cellulose

A comparative molecular dynamics study of crystalline, paracrystalline and amorphous states of cellulose

Micro-Scale Restraint Methodology for Humidity Induced Swelling Investigated by Phase Contrast X-Ray Tomography

Hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of latewood cell wall micropillars reveal ultrastructural anisotropy

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