Determination of physical and mechanical properties of beech Fagus sylvatica L. wood - utilization perspectives in Greece

Yıl 2016, Ek Sayı 1, 58 - 63, 15.08.2016

Kamperidou Vasılıkı Ioannis Barboutıs

Öz

Beech wood is widely available across Europe, and one of the most important commercial hardwood species in European, as well as Greek, forestry. The scope of this research was to enlighten the production of Greek beech forests, the conditions of wood sawmills and the range of utilization possibilities of beech wood, by determining mechanical properties such as, bending strength, modulus of elasticity, radial and tangential hardness of beech wood and compare them with the respective values of previous researches results. Indicatively, the production of beech wood referring to lumber, materials for wood based panels and fuelwood in Greece the year of 2011 was 51.297, 7.472 and 219.653 m, respectively. Beech wood is classified as a medium density hardwood and it is a material of low price and low cost of machining. There is a big range of applications of this species with the most common application to be flooring, furniture, brushes, blocks, handles, veneers and woodenware. In Greece beech lumber was intended mainly for the construction of furniture as steamed wood in the apparent parts of the structure, as well as the upholstered furniture frames, boxes and pallets, as not steamed wood. Generally, the quality of the sawn beech logs in Greece is not quite satisfying, a fact proved by the low percentage of the produced beech lumber of the quality class A approximately 10% . The financial crisis of the last years decreased the demand of wood and wood products in the market and as a result, many of the wood and furniture industries in Greece have been closed. Nowadays, there is not enough demand of beech round wood and annually large quantities of this material conclude to be used plainly as fuelwood, reducing the added value of beech wood. In a period of such an economical crisis as the current one, the use of domestic beech wood, which is a material of good price, of low machining cost, while parallel is characterized by satisfying mechanical and physical properties, could be increased and its utilization possibilities could be extended in a big range of applications, as solid wood or glued products

Anahtar Kelimeler

beech, bending, hardness, mechanical strength, MOE

Kaynakça

• Barboutis, I., Vasileiou, V. 2013. Strength of Finger-jointed Beech Wood (Fagus sylvatica) constructed with small finger lengths and bonded with PU and PVAC Adhesives. International Conference “Wood Science and Engineering in the Third Millennium” – ICWSE 2013
• Bektas, I., Guler, G., Basturk, M.A. 2002. Principal Mechanical Properties of Eastern Beech Wood (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) Naturally Grown in Andırın Northeastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey Turk J Agric For 26 (2002) 147-154
• Cividini, R. 1967. Study of the characteristics of parquet woods and their evaluation. Contributi scientifico pratici, Istituto Nazionale del legno, CNR, Roma, Italy, vol. 8, pp. 1-42.
• Ertekin, M., Kırdar, E., Ayan, S. 2015. The effects of exposure, elevation and tree age on seed characteristics of Fagus orientalis Lipsky. South-east Eur for 6 (1): 15-23. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15177/seefor.15-03
• Forest Service of Pieria, 1978. State Wood Industry of Litohoro. Factsheet of 1978.
• Guntekin, E., Ozkan, S., Yilmaz, T. 2014. Prediction of Bending Properties for Beech lumber using stress wave method. Maderas. Ciencia y tecnología 16(1): 93-98, 2014.
• Kavouras, P. 1985. Forest Industries – A study of the strategy for the development of the Greek Forestry and Wood Science. Ministry of Agriculture, Forest Research Institute of Thessaloniki, Precursor Announcement of March-13- 14-15 (1985).
• Lo Monaco, A., Calienno, L., Pelosi, C., Balletti, F., Agresti, G., Picchio, R. 2015. Technical properties of beech wood from aged coppices in central Italy. iForest (2015) 8: 82-88.
• Molnar, S., Nemeth, R., Feher, S., Tolvaj, L., Papp, G., Varga, F. 2001. Technical and technological properties of Hungarian beech wood consider the red heart. Wood Research 46 (1): 21-30.
• MPREE (Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy), 2014. Activities Report of Forest Service in Greece of the year of 2011. Athens, July 2014.
• Prefecture of Pieria, Forest Department, 1979. The forested Pieria. Factsheet of Forest Department of Pieria. Katerini, March 1979.
• Philippou, I. 1981a. Wood industry in Greece. Anatypo. Proceedings of International Symposium Mechanization in forestry enjoyment. Thessaloniki 23-29 August 1981.
• Philippou, I. 1981b. A study of sawing conditions on eight sawmills in Greece. Scientific annals of the school of Agriculture and Forestry. Vol.24, No.3.
• Pohler, E., Klingner, R., Kunniger, T., 2006. Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) - Technological properties, adhesion behaviour and colour stability with and without coatings of the red heartwood. Ann. For. Sci. 63 (2006) 129–137
• Skarvelis, M., Mantanis, G. I. 2013. Physical and Mechanical properties of Beech Wood harvested in the Greek public forests. Wood Research, 58 (1).
• Strid, A., Kit Tan, 1997. Flora Hellenica. Vol.1, Koeltz, Konigstein. Tzevelekos, A. E. 2015. Tzevelekos A.E. – A standard unit in wood processing. (http://www.tzevelekossa.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=)
• Voulgaridis, E., Tsoumis, G. 1982. Effect of steaming on the properties of Beech wood. Scientific annals of the school of Forestry and Natural Environment. Vol.KE, No.5.