木材が曲がる瞬間をナノ・ミクロの世界で初めて観察~放射光で明かされたマルチスケール構造変化~

2025-07-25 京都大学

木材を曲げた際の内部構造変化を、SPring-8の放射光を用いて世界で初めてリアルタイムで観察することに成功した。京都大学や産総研などの研究チームは、小角X線散乱(SAXS)と広角X線回折(WAXD)を使い、木材が曲がる際にナノ・ミクロスケールでどのような変化が起こるかを明らかにした。外側は引っ張られて微小なクラックが発生し、内側は圧縮され細胞が密集する圧密化が生じる。また、セルロースミクロフィブリル間の距離が引張側で広がり、圧縮側で狭まることも観察された。これにより、木材の力学的性質の理解が深まり、木材加工や新材料開発への応用が期待される。

木材が曲がる瞬間をナノ・ミクロの世界で初めて観察~放射光で明かされたマルチスケール構造変化~
木材のマクロな曲げ変形とそれに伴うミクロ構造・ナノ構造の変化

<関連情報>

マクロスケールの曲げ変形中に木材の多スケール構造の変化を追跡するためのイン・シチュ・シンクロトロンSAXS/WAXD分析 In-situ synchrotron SAXS/WAXD analysis for tracking the change in multiscale structure of wood during macroscopic flexural deformation

Soichi Tanaka, Keisuke Kojiro, Hiroaki Horiyama, Tomoya Imai
Carbohydrate Polymers  Available online: 2 July 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2025.124000

Abstract

Mechanical properties of wood are governed by its hierarchical organization across multiple length scales. This study hypothesizes that hierarchical structural changes in wood during macroscopic flexural deformation can be detected using in-situ small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) analysis in synchrotron radiation facility. The in-situ SAXS/WAXD experiments were conducted on water-saturated wood of Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi), with the specimen’s length aligned along the tangential (T) direction. Flexural deformation was applied along the fiber direction of wood, inducing tensile and compressive strains in the T direction. SAXS profiles revealed expansion and densification of cellular structure under tensile and compressive strains, respectively. Fitting analysis using WoodSAS model (Penttilä et al., 2019) suggested that tensile and compression strains caused the increase and decrease in interfibrillar distance of cellulose microfibril (CMF), respectively. It was also suggested that the compressive strain reduced the smoothness of cell-lumen surface, whereas the tensile strain promoted the formation of microcracks. WAXD analysis showed that the lattice spacing and crystallite size of cellulose in the (200) plane remained unchanged under both tensile and compressive strains. These findings demonstrated that in-situ SAXS/WAXD analysis are effective for tracking multiscale structural changes in wood during macroscopic deformation.

0102材料力学
ad
ad
Follow
ad
タイトルとURLをコピーしました