The use of a microtensile strength bench for testing the strength of growth rings of softwoods and hardwoods parallel to the grain

Abstract

A self-developed microtensile strength bench was used to detect possible differences in tensile strength between early wood and late wood of Scots pine and beech. The difference in tensile strength parallel to the grain between early wood and late wood in Scots pine is more obvious than that of beech. The use of a gelglue (ethylcyanoacrylate) for fastening the small specimens to the testing bench was very promising. The tests showed that the method is very useful, because of a very small number of failures.