Lecturer 5

Wood
Introduction to Wood

 One of the oldest known materials of construction

 Naturally renewable building material
 One of the most popular in light construction due to
 Simplicity in fabrication
 Lightness
 Reusability
 Environmental compatibility
Physical and Mechanical
Properties of Wood
 The physical and
mechanical properties of
wood varies
tremendously even
within a tree
Properties of Wood
Physical Properties of Wood

 A log or trunk is surrounded by a rough and dense

covering called bark
 Inside the bark exist a thin layer of wood cells
(cambium) where the growth of wood takes place
continuously
 Growth results in a ring like structure - annual ring
 Rapidly growing trees having wide annual rings produce
coarse-grained wood
 Slow-growing trees having narrower annual rings
produce fine-grained wood
Physical Properties of Wood

 Wood grain refers to the wood arrangement of wood

fibers
 Growth rings are found in most hardwood and softwood
except palm and coconut
 The centre of the log (pith) is surrounded by the annual
ring- approximate age of the tree
Physical Properties of Wood

 In most species, each annual rings appears in 2 layers

(inner and outer layer)
 The inner layer represent rapid spring growth refer as
springwood or early wood
 The outer layer represent heavier, harder, stronger
material refer as summerwood
 The proportion of summerwood to springwood effect
the density of wood, which turn effect its strength
Physical Properties of Wood

 The inner part of trunk (heartwood) is made of death

tissue and the primary function of this part is to provide
mechanical support to the tree
 The outer part of trunk is known as sapwood
 The difference of the density and strength between the
heartwood and sapwood are very small
 The sapwood is less durable and more permeable than
heartwood
Physical Properties of Wood

 A section of a branch
showing 27 annual
growth rings, pale
sapwood and dark
heartwood, and pith
(centre dark spot)
 The dark radial lines are
small knots
Categories of Wood

 Hardwood
 Has broad leaves which produce seeds in a shell
 Evergreen in the tropics and deciduous (lose their leaves
once a year) in temperate zone
 Example-Oak, Maple and Ash
 Softwood
 Come from coniferous tree which produce cones and has
needlelike leaves and generally evergreen
 Example- Larch, Pine and Redwood
Density of Wood

 The density of wood is defined as the mass per unit

volume
 It is related directly to porosity or proportion of the
voids.
Specific Gravity of Wood

 Specific gravity is the ratio between the density of

wood and the density of water
 The specific gravity is determine in three conditions
 Green
 Air-dry
 Oven-dry
Defects of Wood

 The strength and durability of wood affected by the

presence of defects
 Common defects are
 Cracks
 Knots
 Slope of grain
Shrinkage of Wood

 When the water in the cell cavities evaporates, no

reduction in cross-sectional dimension is seen
 When the wood dries further, the water is driven out
the cell wall, leading to changes in cross-sectioning
dimension is called shrinkage of wood
 The shrinkage varies with species, thickness of cell
walls, arrangement of cells and grain pattern
Drying of Wood

 The process of controlled drying of lumber to increase

its structural properties is known as seasoning
 Drying can
 Increase strength
 Lowering the shrinkage
 Improve the decay resistance
 Reduction in weight
 Better durability
Methods of Drying

 Air drying
 Kiln drying
Air Drying

 Air-drying reduces moisture content to between 15 and

20%
 For a 2.5cm thickness of timber air drying takes around
one year for hardwoods and six months for softwoods
 Timber poles are often dried this way
 The ends of the timber lose moisture fasted and are
sometimes painted to protect them
Air Drying
Kiln Drying

 This method reaches the desired moisture content

within a period of a few days to a week
 The maximum thickness of timber for kiln drying is
around 45mm
 Kilns can be electric, solar or fuel (e.g. oil) powered
Kiln Drying
Types of Wood Product

 Glulam (Glue-Laminated Timber)

 Panel products
 Veneered panels (Plywood)
 Non-veneered panels
 Particleboards
 Fibreboards
Glulam

 Consist of sawn lumber laminations bonded with an

adhesive so that the grain of all laminations runs
parallel with the long direction
 The strength of glulam is stronger in a longitudinal
direction and weaker in transverse direction
 These structural members are used as vertical columns
or horizontal beams, often in curved, arching shapes
Glulam
Veneered Panel (Plywood)

 Made of thin sheets of wood, the layers are glued together,

each with its grain at right angles to adjacent layers for
greater strength
 There are usually an odd number of plies, as the symmetry
makes the board less prone to warping, and the grain on
the outside surfaces runs in the same direction
 The plies are bonded under heat and pressure with strong
adhesives, usually phenol formaldehyde resin, making
plywood a type of composite material
 A common reason for using plywood instead of plain wood
is its resistance to cracking, shrinkage, twisting/warping,
and its general high degree of strength
Veneered Panel (Plywood)
Particleboards

 Particleboard is made from small particles of wood and

and is sometimes called chipboard, flakeboard,
splinterboard, waferboard, strandboard, and oriented
strainboard depending on their particles and their
orientation
 Particles are pieces of wood smaller than veneer sheet
but larger than wood fiber
 The raw materials for the manufacturing of particles
come from many sources, such as plywood mill wasted,
sawdust, round wood, planer shavings, and wood
residue
 Residues from the milling operation are commonly used
as particles
Particleboards
Fiberboard

 Fiberboard comes into two types,

 High density fiberboard (Hardboard)
 Medium density fiberboard
 Fibers are slender threadlike elements or a group of wood fibers
resulting from chemical or mechanical defiberization, or both
 A number of raw materials, such as coarse residues from other
forest products, bagasse, wastepaper, and pulp chips can be used
in manufacturer of fibers
 The raw materials are broken down into fibers through thermal-
mechanical treatment
 Then the fibers are interfelted under controlled conditions of hot
pressing
 This will cause the rebonding of the lignin, which in addition to the
binding agents added will produce a bonded panel products
Hard Density Fiberboard
Medium Density Fiberboard
The End