Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of waterlogged archaeological wood at room temperature

The viscoelastic properties of waterlogged wood (WLW) were investigated via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) at room temperature and under water saturated conditions, aiming at the investigation of the relationships between viscoelasticity and chemical composition. Different softwoods (SWs) and hardwoods (HWs) from several archaeological sites were sampled, which had different levels of decay (from highly-decayed to little changed). The analytical methods included lignin and holocellulose determination by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, moisture content (MC), basic density (BD), micromorphological observations, and the DMA was performed in three-point bending and submersion mode. Both HWs and SWs showed an exponential decrease of both storage modulus (E?) and loss modulus (E?), which are related to the amount of crystalline and paracrystalline cellulose left in the cell wall, respectively. The ratio E?/E? (tan?) varied with the frequency in different ways depending on the preservation state of the samples. Less decayed material had a higher tan? than the fresh reference wood and lower (or similar) tan? in the case of highly decayed samples. Accordingly, the long-term behaviour under a certain sustained load of WLW is decay dependent.