Physical and Mechanical Properties of Wood From a Population of Eucalyptus bosistoana F. Muell. Grown in Uruguay

Abstract

This work aims to characterize the wood of Eucalyptus bosistoana, through the study of physical (density and shrinkage) and mechanical (static bending, Janka hardness and compression parallel to grain) properties. The material used for the test was eleven 42 years old trees from a forest shelter belt located at the Experimental Station Bernardo Rosengurtt (Bañado de Medina, Cerro Largo). For physical properties, static bending and Janka hardness Uruguayan UNIT standards were used, while American ASTM standards were followed to carry out compression parallel to grain tests. It was found that the species basic density is 0.82 g cm-3 and 0.94 g cm-3 for the density at a moisture content of 12 %. The wood was classified as high shrinkage, with a volumetric value of 17.83 %. Regarding the mechanical properties the wood is of great strength. At an average moisture content of 15 %, the value for compression parallel to grain is 66.19 MPa. For static bending, MOE and MOR are 18738 MPa and 146.2 MPa, respectively. These properties were corrected to 12 % moisture content using appropriate adjustment factors.