Effects of thermo-hygro-mechanical (THM) treatment on the viscoelasticity of in-situ lignin

Abstract For producing wood products without fractures based on thermo-hygro-mechanical (THM) treatments, it is essential to understand how steaming and compression change the wood softening and cell wall components. In this paper, the effects of compression combined with steam treatment (CS) on the viscoelasticity of the in-situ lignin of Chinese fir has been investigated through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) under fully saturated conditions. Several variations were studied, such as the softening temperature (Tg) and apparent activation energy (ΔHa) of the softening process in response to CS treatment conditions (such as steam temperature and compression ratio) under separate consideration of earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW). No difference between EW and LW with respect to the viscoelasticity was noted. Tg and ΔHa of the lignin softening were nearly unaffected by the compression ratio, but were highly influenced by the steam temperature. The Tg decreased significantly with CS treatments at or above 160oC, but showed no appreciable change, compared to the native wood, at the lower steaming temperature of 140oC. ΔHa increased at higher steam temperatures, while ΔHa showed a decreasing tendency with decreasing Tg. This indicates that lignin undergoes a simultaneous depolymerization as well as a condensation during CS treatment.

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