ESTIMATION OF WOOD TOUGHNESS IN BRAZILIAN TROPICAL TREE SPECIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT Wood has been used for several purposes such as in civil and rural construction. Knowing wood mechanical behavior under short-term loading is essential for safer structural designs. However, wood toughness is a mechanical property little investigated for this purpose. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate, using exponential and polynomial regression models (linear, quadratic, and cubic), the possibility of estimating toughness as a function of apparent density, compression parallel to grain strength, and modulus of rupture in static bending. Thirty-six Brazilian tropical wood species from south of Roraima, Mato Grosso do Sul, and north and northeast of Mato Grosso were tested. Our results showed the significance and representativeness of all investigated fits, among which a cubic polynomial function is the most indicated for wood toughness estimates.

Keywords

• Apparent density
• tropical wood species
• modulus of elasticity
• compression parallel to grain strength
• toughness