Domination of Grain Bearing on the Strength Properties of Engkabang Jantong as Fast Growing Timber in Sarawak

Abstract

Nowadays, the hardwood category which refers to heavy hardwood species no longer sustains tothe market demand. The harvesting of this wood category takes longer period of time. Thus, several studiesin timber engineering have been carried out to investigate the fast-growing indigenous species as thealternative to heavy hardwood categories. For this purpose, fast-growing indigenous species of Engkabangjantong were selected and also the test samples were prepared in small clear specimens. The British Standard,BS373.1957 method of testing small clear specimens of timber was adopted to evaluate the strength propertiesof the species. The strength properties determinations were referred to hardness, cleavage and shear parallelto grain. The results were represented into two different grain directions namely tangential and radial at twodifferent conditions, i.e. green and air-dry condition. It was found that, hardness strength at tangential washigher than radial for both condition green and air-dry with 4.71and 8.86%, respectively. At cleavage strength,it was reported that tangential possessed higher strength values than the radial for both conditions green andair-dry with 23.06 and 27.22%, respectively. Shear strength at tangential was higher than radial for bothconditions green and air-dry with 11.70 and 8.58%, respectively.

Keywords

• Hardness
• Cleavage
• Shear parallel to grain
• Radial
• Tangential
• Green
• Air-dry