Orthotropic hygro-mechanical behavior of Chinese fir during cyclical relative humidity variation

Abstract

The orthotropic free swelling-shrinkage and mechano-sorptive creep (MSC) during cyclical relative humidity (RH) variation (0-80% RH) and time-dependent viscoelastic creep (VEC) in a steady state (0% RH) were examined in Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata). During RH changing, the occurrences of local maximum or minimum strains of the free swelling-shrinkage and MSC lagged behind the corresponding maximum or minimum RH. The lagged time decreased with increasing cyclical times. Furthermore, the lagged time exhibited an orthotropic behavior: the longer lagged time was found in longitudinal specimen compared to transverse specimens. MSC exhibited a more pronounced anisotropy than VEC. According to the three tests, the performance of free swelling-shrinkage and the mechano-sorptive effect on the orthotropic MSC behavior was addressed. The free swelling-shrinkage mainly dominated the creep strain during cyclic RH variation, especially for longitudinal specimen. The mechano-sorptive effect on the MSC behavior exerted more influence on tangential specimen compared to radial and longitudinal specimens. The mechano-sorptive limit was observed for all specimens. Longitudinal specimen required more cyclic times to approach the mechano-sorptive limit than transverse specimens.