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

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

Keywords:

beech, bending, hardness mechanical strength, MOE,

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