Characteristic properties of plantation Tasmanian Shining gum (E. nitens) Full rotation thinned and pruned resource (220802 STT Characterisation Tech Report)
This report summarises the results of a Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT)-funded project that aimed to determine the characteristic material properties of appearance quality boards recovered from Tasmania’s full rotation thinned and pruned Shining gum (Eucalyptus nitens) plantations. Detailed test methodologies and results are included in the report appendices.
Materials have characteristic properties that influence their use in applications. For timber and wood products, material properties can be broadly split into six groups: visual appearance, mechanical properties; structural properties; durability, general workability and fire hazard properties. The properties for most common Australian hardwood species were previously determined from tests conducted on boards recovered from mature native forest log, and are readily available.
However, full-rotation thinned and pruned plantation E. nitens is a new wood products resource. With a nominal harvest age of 25 years, its mechanical properties differ significantly from older native forest material of the same species. To determine the characteristic material properties of the sawlog-managed plantation E. nitens; this project included:
•Milling of logs from three STT-selected full-rotation stands into board for a testing program. Table 1 includes details of the source coupe, harvest date and millers involved.
•A testing and assessment program covering the properties of this and other material from full-rotation E. nitens stands. Results are shown for: visual appearance in Table 2; mechanical properties in Table 3, structural properties in Table 4; and general workability in Table 5. Others are using the recovered material to determine its Fire hazard properties. See Table 6.
This project does not include investigation of the material durability characteristics as these cannot be determined to current standards in a meaningful timeframe or may not vary from the characteristics of native forest material, shown in Table 7.
Funding
Commissioned by: Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT)
History
Confidential
- No