Investigation of the fiber saturation point of tropical Brazilian wood species

Abstract

The fiber saturation point (FSP) is an important parameter of wood material, related to dimensional stability and variations of mechanical performance. This paper investigated the FSP values of 15 tropical Brazilian wood species covering all strength classes of the Brazilian standard code. An additional goal was to estimate FSP value based on the wood's apparent density. The FSP values were determined by measuring the wood specimen dimensions during moisture content reduction from the saturated state. Wood densities at 0% and 12% moisture contents and basic density were determined according to the Brazilian standard code. The average FSP for all wood species was 21.6% moisture content. Among density values, good correlations were observed, and a multivariate regression model for FSP estimation based on wood densities presented a coefficient of determination equal to 13.07%. There was no correlation between FSP and wood densities, suggesting that this parameter is almost constant regardless of the wood species.