Tensile Strength of Clear Thin Wood Samples in Relation to the Slope of Grain

The mechanical and physical properties of wood are strongly dependent upon the slope of grain. Specially, tensile strength is more severely affected by the slope of grain. Therefore, tension tests were performed on small thin wood samples made from Pinus radiata with varying the slope of grain. Determining the tensile strength for clear thin wood samples the other variabilities associated with material, size, drying, defects, etc were discarded. Slope of grain was measured by the slope of grain indicator and actual slope of grain was also determined by a protractor. Correlation coefficients between machine measured and actual slope of grain for 40 pieces of 2×20 mm, 300 mm long Pinus radiata were 0.84 for wide face measurement. Results also showed that tensile strength and MOE from stress wave tests decreased with increasing the slope of grain. This study did not establish a relationships for tensile strength and MOE from stress wave with slope of grain. However, the trends of MOEs from stress wave test with both slope of grain are agreed well with Hankinson's equation. Predicted tension strength curve by Hankinson's equation was also agreed well with the experimental data over the range from 0 to 13 degrees for slope of grain.