Influence of lignin content on tensile properties of single wood fiber.

Chemical components are main factors affecting the mechanical properties of wood fibers. Lignin is one of the main components of wood cell wall and has a critical effect on the mechanical properties of paper pulp, wood fiber based composites. In the study, we carried out tensile tests on single mature latewood tracheids of Chinese Fir (Cunninghamia lancolata (Lamb.) Hook), and three different delignified treatment methods were used to obtain different content of lignin. We applied singlefibertest to study the effect of lignin content on tensile mechanical properties of single wood fibers at the cellular lever. Results showed that in the dry state, elastic modulus of single fibers decreased with the reduction of lignin content, even the absolute values were not high. The lignin content affected the tensile strength and elongation of single fibers significantly. The tensile strength and elongation of single fibers increased with the reduction of lignin content.