The effect of moisture content and bending rate on the work required to bend solid red oak

Sixty red oak (Quercus rubra) specimens were divided into three bending rate and two initial moisture content (MC) categories. The specimens were pre-steamed and then bent at 185? to 190?F in an environment where steam was sprayed around the samples continuously. After bending, the work required to produce each bend was calculated and comparisons were made. It was hypothesized that decreasing the rate of strain and increasing the MC would decrease the level of work required to produce the bend and decrease the probability of failure. An overall comparison of the effects of rate and MC showed both to be significant factors affecting the work input. As the rate increased, the amount of work required to bend the wood increased, as expected. The work required to bend the samples also decreased as the MC increased from 12 to 15 percent, as hypothesized. Comparisons of these test results with the work to maximum load from conventional bending experiments show that a slower bending rate than is currently used in commercial practice combined with an MC of about 15 percent would probably be efficacious for producing high-quality bentwood.

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