Abstract
This article starts a series of articles on dependences between the conditions of the growth of trees in forests and the technical aspects and directions of using the raw material obtained from these trees. This is a key feature for wood purchasers because it determines the efficiency of production and directly affects the final financial result of their activity. Wood represents an environmentally sustainable and renewable material, which is a widely available raw material on the market and must meet specific quality and strength requirements. These parameters indicate the utility values of wood and the possibilities of its use. One of the factors influencing the properties of wood is the type of the forest habitat it comes from. In order to determine this influence, tests were carried out to show how tree growth conditions affected changes in the density and strength of raw wood. The assumption (hypothesis) about the correlation between the static bending strength of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood and the forest habitat was verified on four forest types, i.e., fresh coniferous forest (FCF), fresh mixed coniferous forest (FMCF), fresh mixed forest (FMF) and fresh forest (FF). The properties depend largely on the wood structure, its origin on the cross section and the length of the stems. The raw material selected for the study came from Scots pine trees growing in forests in central Poland. The study confirmed the influence of the habitat on changes in the density and strength of pinewood. There was a correlation between the habitat FMCF and the quality parameters of the raw material, which reflected the wood structure r = 0.775; p < 0.05.
Highlights
IntroductionThe technical parameters of wood vary depending on the species as well as the habitat, age of the trees and other factors
Variability in the quality of raw wood is largely caused by the condition of trees
Our study showed a strong correlation between the density and strength of wood only in the fresh mixed coniferous forest (FMCF) habitat
Summary
The technical parameters of wood vary depending on the species as well as the habitat, age of the trees and other factors. A set of climate-related and soil-related factors is an important parameter affecting both the health of trees and the quality of wood obtained from them. The type of forest habitat can influence changes in the wood structure. For Scots pine it is the ratio of mature wood to juvenile wood, or the share of the heartwood zone. The proportion of juvenile wood on a stem cross-section increases proportionally to the distance from its base and decreases with decreasing width of the of annual rings (the share of late wood increases) [6,7]. The type of forest habitat may affect the mechanical properties of wood [8,9,10,11]
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