Does Mechanical Stress Affect the Dielectric Properties of Wood?

The effect of mechanical stress on the dielectric properties of wood was studied to assess the possibility of estimating drying stresses from dielectric measurements. The effect was observable for both the mechanical and electric stress parallel to the grain when the wood was at 12% moisture content or greater and at frequencies less than about 10 kHz. For stresses across the grain, the effect was very small, which precludes using this phenomenon for estimating drying stresses