Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2011
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Wood exhibits a highly anisotropic mechanical behavior due to its heterogeneous microscopic structure and composition. Its microstructure is organized in a strictly hierarchical manner from a length scale of some nanometers, where the elementary constituents cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, and extractives are found, up to a length scale of some millimeters, where growth rings composed of earlywood and latewood are observed. To resolve the microscale origin of the mechanical response of the macro-homogeneous but micro-heterogeneous material wood, micromechanical modeling techniques were applied. They allow for prediction of clear wood stiffness (Hofstetter et al. 2005,2007, Bader et al. 2010a,b) from microstructural characteristics. Fungal decay causes changes in the wood microstructure, expressed by decomposition or degradation of its components (Côté 1965, Schwarze 2007). Consequently, macroscopic mechanical properties are decreasing (see e.g. Wilcox 1978). Thus, in the same manner as for clear wood, consideration of alterations of wood in a micromechanical model allows predicting changes in the macroscopic mechanical properties. This contribution covers results from an extensive experimental program, where changes in chemophysical properties and corresponding changes in the mechanical behavior were investigated. For this purpose, pine (Pinus sylvestris) sapwood samples were measured in the reference condition, as well as degraded by brown rot (G. loeophyllum trabeum) or white rot (Trametes. versicolor). Stiffness properties of the unaffected and the degraded material were not only measured in uniaxial tension tests in the longitudinal direction, but also in the three principal material directions by means of ultrasonic testing. The experiments revealed transversal stiffness properties to be much more sensitive to degradation than longitudinal stiffness properties. This is due to the degradation of the polymer matrix between the cellulose fibers, which has a strong effect on the transversal stiffness. On the contrary, longitudinal stiffness is mainly governed by cellulose, which is more stable with respect to degradation by fungi. Consequently, transversal stiffness properties or ratios of normal stiffness tensor components may constitute suitable durability indicators. Subsequently, simple micromechanical models, as well as a multiscale micromechanical model for wood stiffness, were applied for verification of hypotheses on degradation mechanisms and model validation.
Authors
Trygve D. Kjellsen Igor A. Yakovlev Carl Gunnar Fossdal Richard StrimbeckAbstract
Siberian spruce (Picea obovata) grows in the coldest forested environments on Earth, with average temperatures in midwinter months below -40 C and record lows below 60 C. Fully acclimated needles of this species survive immersion in liquid nitrogen at -196 C provided they are first cooled to an intermediate temperature of around -30 C. To investigate the role of dehydrins in extreme frost tolerance, we monitored frost tolerance, relative dehydrin concentration, and relative changes in dehydrin transcript levels in P. obovata needles over a full acclimation-deacclimation cycle.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Hanna Marika Silvennoinen Annelene Pengerud Christina Biasi Peter DörschAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Espen Govasmark Juliusz Bianga joanna SzpunarAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Arne Hermansen Leslie A Wanner Ragnhild Nærstad Sonja KlemsdalAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The aim of this study was to use energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to localize chitosan in the cell wall of chitosan-impregnated Scots pine. It was of interest to investigate the concentration of chitosan in wood to gain further knowledge and understanding of the distribution of chitosan in the wooden matrix. After deacetylation, chitosan was re-acetylated with chloroacetic anhydride to achieve a covalent bonding of chloride to the chitosan polymer. Chloride-labelled chitosan was measured by EDX using a scanning electron microscope and described as chloride intensity. Analysis of free chloride anions was performed by dialysis and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. There was a significant correlation between the molecular weight of chitosan and the intensity of covalentbonded chloride to the chitosan polymer. High molecular weight chitosan showed a better interaction with the cell wall structure than low molecular chitosan.
Authors
Morten Nitteberg Bruce TalbotAbstract
No abstract has been registered