Nanoindentation in Wood

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past 25 years, nanoindentation has become a valuable tool in wood science and engineering research. Nanoindentation is a type of instrumented indentation experiment used most often to measure mechanical properties, such as hardness and elastic modulus. An advantage of nanoindentation over other mechanical testing techniques is its ability to probe small, often submicron, volumes of materials. This makes nanoindentation ideally suited to probe the properties of individual wood cell wall layers, as well as other micron-scale features in wood-based materials, such as wood-adhesive bondlines and wood coatings. Nanoindentation is also capable of assessing changes in properties associated with changes in moisture and temperature. Indeed, about 200 research papers have been published on the topic of nanoindentation in wood. These papers provide valuable information over a wide range of research areas, including fundamental cell wall properties, wood adhesives, wood composites, nanocellulose, biodegradation, modified wood, biogenesis, pulp and paper, and others.

Despite the wide range of valuable information already gained from nanoindentation studies in wood, numerous challenges remain. For example, many of the nanoindentation methods applied to wood have their origin in inorganic materials research studying bulk or thin film specimens. These methods likely have limitations when applied to wood, which is a cellular polymeric material with time-, temperature-, and moisture-dependent properties. Another particular challenge is making useful comparisons between different research studies because they often employ different nanoindentation protocols that make direct comparisons difficult, if not impossible.

This Special Issue of Forests aims to bring together a collection of papers spanning the past, present, and future of nanoindentation in wood and similar lignocellulosic materials. Review papers are sought that summarize and critically analyze nanoindentation results in specific wood science research areas. Articles with current original nanoindentation research are also welcome. In particular, papers that include perspectives about future nanoindentation directions and best practices in wood are especially desired.

Dr. Joseph E. Jakes
Guest Editor

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• nanoindentation
• wood
• hardness
• elastic modulus
• moisture
• temperature
• adhesives
• cell wall
• mechanical properties