Comparison of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Beech and Walnut Wood from Iran and Georgian Beech

Mohammad Najafian Ashrafi,Ali Heidari,Zeynolabedin Vosoughi Rudgar,Ehsan Bari,Hooman Shaabani Asrami,Esmail Rastbod,Javier Ribera,Hamed Jafarzadeh,Mohammad Ghorbanian Far,Mohammad Salehi

doi:10.3390/f12060801

Abstract

Beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forests in Iran are one of the most important sources of the hardwood species used for lumber, furniture, and interior object design due to its hardness, wear resistance, strength, and excellent bending capabilities. Furthermore, Iran is third most important country for walnut wood production after China and United States. Therefore, in this study, we compared specific mechanical properties between beech wood obtained from Sangdeh (Iran) and Georgia and four different kinds of walnut woods in Iran. Physical and mechanical tests were performed according to ISO 3129 (2012) and ASTM (D143-14) standards. The moisture content of all samples was 12% during mechanical tests. The mean dry density of Sangdeh and Georgian beech obtained was 0.61 and 0.65 g/cm3, respectively, while the mean dry density of Noor, Shahrekord, Mashhad, and Mako walnut woods measured 0.62, 0.59, 0.62, and 0.57 g/cm3, respectively. The results showed significant differences among the properties of the Sangdeh and Georgian species and the four different walnut tree woods. Overall, the obtained strengths of Georgian timber were higher than that of the Iranian beech, which was attributed to the higher density of Georgian timber. Furthermore, due to the higher density of the walnut species in the Noor and Mashhad regions, the measured mechanical strengths of these trees were higher than those of other walnut species. The obtained results provide relevant information to determinate the future applications of each wood source.

Highlights

Wood and wood products are some of the most important materials that have been traditionally used for building constructions, veneers, flooring, boatbuilding, furniture, cabinetry, musical instruments, plywood, and turned objects [1,2]
As can be seen for walnut wood, a significant difference was observed between the dry density, radial shrinkage, tangential shrinkage, and volumetric shrinkage
Significant differences between Iranian and Georgian beech were found in terms of physical properties except radial shrinkage

Summary

Introduction

Wood and wood products are some of the most important materials that have been traditionally used for building constructions, veneers, flooring, boatbuilding, furniture, cabinetry, musical instruments, plywood, and turned objects [1,2]. Wood is still an essential material for several applications due to its mechanical properties, workability, and thermal isolation properties. Wood may have some negative properties, including low dimension stability related to weather changes. Some mechanical properties such as strength and hardness are not identical in all directions of the grain, which can be aggravated by internal defects [3]. The use of wood for specific applications needs deep knowledge about its physical and mechanical properties. In this context, wood density is one of the most important features in the selection of trees and could be considered the main factor for understanding wood quality. Some studies have proposed that the average density of beech wood is higher than 0.7 g/cm3 [1,4]

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Conclusion