SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND MECHANICAL RESISTANCE OF FOREST LEFTOVER FROM THE AMAZON REGION

Abstract

The leftover timber that remains in the forest after harvesting may present several applications as in furniture, structures and artifacts, if their technological properties are known. This work aimed to characterize the basic density and mechanical properties of forest leftover wood. At the area of forest concession of the Gleba Nova Olinda it was collected leftover and base stem wood for characterization accomplished according to the recommendations of the standard used. The results were analyzed using the T-test. The basic density was 0.81 and 0.94 g cm-3 for Manilkara sp. and 0.91 and 0.88 g cm-3 in Hymenaea sp., respectively, for leftover wood and base stem, which did not differ statistically from each other when comparing the means of Manilkara sp., while in Hymenaea sp. there was no statistical difference for this property. The mechanical resistance of the leftover wood and the base stem of Manilkara sp. did not present significant statistical difference, except for the tangential and transverse plane in the Janka hardness test. The Hymenaea sp. revealed statistically different mechanical properties for twig and base wood, except for compression parallel to the fibers, where the resistance was equivalent to 85 and 94 MPa for leftover and base stem wood, respectively. The wood of residues of the species characterized presented high density and mechanical resistance similar to its base stem and the use of this material represents the potential for obtaining products with added value, considering their particularities and dimensional stability.KEYWORDS: Forest leftover wood, Mechanical characterization, Physical properties.