Technological characterization of Eucalyptus benthamii Maiden et Cambage wood

Abstract

The knowledge about the technological properties of the wood enables the achievement of tools that assist in the adequate use of this material. Therefore, the aim of this study was accomplish the technological characterization of Eucalyptus benthamii wood for potential uses. For this, it was used six trees of the forestry plantation implanted in the Guatambu city, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. For the physical characterization of the wood, discs were obtained at three different positions of the trunk of each tree, determining the basic density and retractibility. The test pieces to the mechanical tests of parallel compression to the fibers, dynamic bending, static bending and Janka hardness were obtained from discs removed of the logs. The average basic density was 0.549 g cm^-3, while the retractibility parameters were similar to those of genus eucalyptus, with an average anisotropy coefficient of 1.9, indicating that it is a specie unstable dimensionally. The results obtained from the mechanical tests show that the Eucalyptus benthamii wood has less resistant to mechanical stress, limiting its use for this purpose. Therefore, the application of this species for purposes applying mechanical stress is limited, making it necessary carrying out studies about the other properties of this wood.