Influence of temperature on the transverse behaviour in water-saturated state of tropical wood species

The influence of temperature on the transverse viscoelastic behaviour of green wood was characterised by the apparent radial modulus (ER) in a quasi-static compression test. The glassy transition temperature of 10 tropical species (basic density between 0.2 and 0.9) varied between 53 and 69°C. The influence of both temperature and strain rate was observed on Bocoa prouacensis (Aubl.). The use of an approximated complex diagram revealed a secondary viscoelastic process occurring in the low temperature range. A multiparabolic model, where each parabolic element was replaced by a generalised Maxwell model with a modified-Gaussian relaxation spectrum, was fitted to the observed behaviour in the time range of 0.01 to 100 sec and temperature of 10 to 90°C. (Résumé d'auteur