Wood and plywood quality characterization of new and alternate species amenable for composite wood production

Abstract

India is one of the robust consumers of engineered wood products, and the raw material demand for engineered wood production is increasing at an alarming rate. Currently, the plywood industry in the country depends only on a few species and demands screening of alternate species amenable for plywood production. Therefore, studies were conducted to characterize the physical and mechanical properties of eight different tree species, viz., Toona ciliata, Chukrasia tabularis, Acacia hybrid, Neolamarckia cadamba, Acrocarpus fraxinifolius, Swietenia macrophylla, Casuarina equisetifolia, and Mitragyna parvifolia, which are potential tree components in the agroforestry system. The physical properties such as density exhibited wider variation between the species. In general, all the species exhibited medium-to high-density values. Studies on veneer recovery indicated that barring M. parvifolia, all other species exhibited more than 50% veneer recovery and extended greater scope of adoption. Similarly, the veneer quality exhibited wide differences, and several species registered face veneer quality. The analysis of mechanical properties of plywood made out of all the eight species indicated that the MOE was well within the acceptable range and the MOR was on higher side, which indicated that these species could play a vital role in the manufacture of medium-to high-density plywood.