The elastic stiffness tensor of cellulosic fibers
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Single cellulosic fibers are difficult to characterize mechanically due to the complex structure, the natural variability, and the limited size of the fibers. Tensile testing is the standard technique but only assesses the mechanical properties along the longitudinal direction of the fiber with high scattering. Other contact-based techniques are tedious and limited as well. Here, Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy (BLS) as an optical, non-contact technique is applied to measure mechanical properties. Its principle is based on the interaction of laser light with acoustic phonons in the material. By probing with BLS different directions of single cellulose fibers and assuming a hexagonal crystal symmetry, the full elastic stiffness tensor is measured in non-contact and important mechanical parameters can be obtained [1]. In this talk, the experimental procedure to obtain the full elastic stiffness with BLS will be presented and first results for cellulosic fibers discussed. References: [1] K. J. Koski et al., Non-invasive determination of the complete elastic moduli of spider silks. Nat. Mat., Vol. 12:262-267, 2013.
