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Effects of ageing on the cell wall and its hygroscopicity of wood in ancient timber construction

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Abstract

An important traditional load bearing member in oriental ancient timber structure buildings, i.e. Huagong (flower arm), was selected to explore the alterations in cell wall components and hygroscopic properties of wood during long time ageing. This archaeological poplar (Populus spp.) wood with cal. BP 690: BP 790 was studied from the wood surface and inwards by means of imaging FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and dynamic vapour sorption. The deterioration of the archaeological wood mainly displayed a depolymerization of glucomannan and lignin as well as a hydrolysis of the glucuronic acid of xylan and of the aromatic C–O groups in the condensed lignins or lignin–carbohydrate complexes. Furthermore, the degradation promoted the rearrangement of the cellulose molecules in adjacent microfibrils. The cellulose crystallites in the archaeological wood were therefore packed more tightly and had larger diameter. The structural alterations of wood cell wall components and a decrease in crystallinity contributed to an increase in the number of moisture bonding sites and led to an increase in both the equilibrium moisture content of the archaeological wood in the entire RH range as well as an increase in hysteresis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (No. 31600450) and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs P. R. China (P163036008). Professor Junji Sugiyama from University of Tokyo, Japan, is acknowledged for the discussion of XRD results, and Mrs. Anne-Mari Olsson from Research Institutes of Sweden, Sweden, is acknowledged for technical support of the dynamic vapour sorption measurement. The Wood Collection of Chinese Academy of Forestry and the Wallenberg Wood Science Center of KTH are acknowledged for the support of the study.

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  1. Juan Guo and Haibin Zhou have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wood Anatomy and Utilization, Research Institute of Wood Industry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Bei**g, 100091, China

    Juan Guo, Haibin Zhou, Mengyu Dong, Min Yu & Yafang Yin

  2. Bioeconomy/Biorefinery and Energy, Research Institutes of Sweden, Box 5604, 11486, Stockholm, Sweden

    Jasna S. Stevanic & Lennart Salmén

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  1. Juan Guo
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  2. Haibin Zhou
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  6. Lennart Salmén
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  7. Yafang Yin
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Correspondence to Lennart Salmén.

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Guo, J., Zhou, H., Stevanic, J.S. et al. Effects of ageing on the cell wall and its hygroscopicity of wood in ancient timber construction. Wood Sci Technol 52, 131–147 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-017-0956-z

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