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Development of non-destructive-testing based selection and grading strategies for plantation Eucalyptus nitens sawn boards
Citation
Balasso, M and Hunt, MA and Jacobs, A and O'Reilly-Wapstra, J, Development of non-destructive-testing based selection and grading strategies for plantation Eucalyptus nitens sawn boards, Forests, 12, (3) Article 343. ISSN 1999-4907 (2021) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Stiffness is considered one of the most important structural properties for sawn timber used in buildings and laminated structures including mass timber elements. There is great potential to use plantation Eucalyptus timber for structural applications, and the successful development of a plantation timber supply chain for structural products will depend on the accurate selection and grading of the resource. In this study we aimed to investigate the suitability of non-destructive testing (NDT) to improve selection and grading of sawn boards sourced from a young E. nitens plantation. We studied 268 sawn boards traced from the tree through to final processing stages. We found high and positive correlations between stiffness (measured as dynamic modulus of elasticity) tested at each board processing stage through acoustic wave velocity (AWV) and the static board modulus of elasticity measured through mechanical testing on dressed boards. Position of the board in the stem and sawn board processing treatment significantly impacted board modulus of elasticity, indicating that early selection of logs would allow larger yield of stiffer boards. We investigated the grading of boards through the traditional Australian Standards using a visual-grading system and through AWV, finding a classification error of 82.5% and 45.2%, respectively. We developed a linear model which was used to re-classify the boards, obtaining a smaller classification error, including fewer boards being over-graded. Our results demonstrate that AWV can be used as an early selection method for structural boards and can also be employed to satisfactorily grade E. nitens plantation boards to be used in building structures and as elements of mass timber.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Eucalyptus plantations, stiffness, acoustic wave velocity, non-destructive techniques, grading, structural timber |
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Forestry sciences |
| Research Field: | Wood processing |
| Objective Division: | Plant Production and Plant Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Forestry |
| Objective Field: | Hardwood plantations |
| UTAS Author: | Balasso, M (Miss Michelle Balasso) |
| UTAS Author: | Hunt, MA (Professor Mark Hunt) |
| UTAS Author: | O'Reilly-Wapstra, J (Professor Julianne O'Reilly-Wapstra) |
| ID Code: | 143970 |
| Year Published: | 2021 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 5 |
| Deposited By: | Office of the School of Natural Sciences |
| Deposited On: | 2021-04-12 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-06-02 |
| Downloads: | 15 View Download Statistics |
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