Contribution of wood fiber hygroexpansion to moisture induced thickness swelling of composite plates

• One of the main drawbacks of wood fiber-based composite materials is their propensity to swell due to moisture uptake. Because the wood fibers are usually the main contributor to hygroexpansion, it is of interest to quantify the hygroexpansion coefficient of wood fibers, to compare and rank different types of fibers. This investigation outlines an inverse method to estimate the transverse hygroexpansion coefficient of wood fibers based on measurements of moisture induced thickness swelling of composite plates. The model is based on composite micromechanics and laminate theory. Thickness swelling has been measured on polylactide matrix composites with either bleached reference fibers or crosslinked fibers. The crosslinking modification reduced the transverse hygroexpansion of the composites and the transverse coefficient of hygroexpansion of the fibers was reduced from 0.28 strain per relative humidity for reference fibers to 0.12 for cross-linked fibers

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Pappers-, massa- och fiberteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Paper, Pulp and Fiber Technology (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Kompositmaterial och -teknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Composite Science and Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Crosslinked

Hygroexpansion

Inverse methods

Laminate theory

Matrix composite

Moisture uptake

Poly lactide

Reference fibers

Relative humidities

Thickness swelling

Wood fiber

Cellulose and paper engineering

Cellulosa- och pappersteknik

Polymeric Composite Materials

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)