Nanomechanical characterization of wood cell walls during maturation process
Résumé
Improved knowledge on the way cell wall stiffness changes during the maturation process is of great importance to feed and help theoretical modelling on growth stress generation in trees. This paper outlines one of the most promising techniques to measure viscoelastic properties within the different layers of the developing cell wall based on the so-called Resonant Contact mode using an Atomic Force Microscope. This mode and the required calibrations are briefly described here and an application on chestnut mature tension wood is shown. It demonstrates the ability of the technique for drawing qualitative viscoelastic maps within a cell wall layer. Limitations and necessary development of this method to do quantitative measurements are briefly discussed.