The impacts analysis of moisture content on mechanical properties of wormwood stem
The disposable chopsticks caused a large amount resources waste of bamboo and wood. Thus, it has a significant resources and environmental benefits using wormwood stem as raw materials to make disposable chopsticks. In this paper, the radial compression and bending performances of wormwood stem were tested with different moisture content, which provide a reference for reasonably design the grinding device of wormwood stem and the feasibility of wormwood stem instead of bamboo chopsticks. The test results show that: the mechanical properties decrease with the increase of moisture content. In the actual grinding process, the moisture content of wormwood stem is controlled about 20%, it can withstand the radial force of 600N and the bending force of 41N, which meet the load requirements of the grinding processing and use. This study provides a theoretical basis for reasonably design grinding device of wormwood stem, producing and storing high quality herbal chopsticks.