Wood toughness is a mechanical property of interest in structural design where the load impact must be considered, finding a strong application in bridges, however, not an integral part of the mechanical properties commonly investigated in the characterization of this material. This study aimed to investigate with the aid of variance analysis, the influence of growth ring orientation to obtain toughness for Angelim Saia (Parkia pendula), Eucalyptus grandis, Pinus elliottii and Corymbia citriodora wood species, considering three different positions, so that the orientation causes tensile strength in fibers near the pitch, near the bark, and in the radial direction. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that there was no significance in the orientation of the growth rings to obtain the toughness of the wood species investigated, where the highest values were for Corymbia citriodora and the least values were for Pinus elliottii.

A tenacidade da madeira é uma propriedade mecânica de interesse em situações em que o carregamento por impacto deve ser considerado, encontrando aplicação em silos, pontes e fôrmas para estruturas de concreto armado. Apesar das recomendações do Anexo B - NBR 7190:1997, não tem sido usual a determinação da tenacidade na caracterização da madeira. Este trabalho objetivou investigar a influência do teor de umidade (30; 20; 12; 6; 0%) na obtenção da tenacidade da madeira angelim-saia (Vatairea sp), Eucalyptus grandis, Pinus elliottii e Corymbia citriodora, considerando a orientação dos anéis de crescimento em relação à direção da força de impacto. Análises estatísticas dos resultados por análise de variância (ANOVA) e teste de Tukey revelaram ser significativa a influência do teor de umidade na tenacidade apenas para a madeira de angelim-saia. Para as demais espécies, a análise estatística demonstrou resultados estatisticamente equivalentes, ou seja, o teor de umidade não foi influente na propriedade de tenacidade. Neste sentido, foi observado que o teor de umidade pode ser significativo na obtenção da tenacidade conforme a espécie e que maiores teores podem fornecer valores superiores desta propriedade.

Wood toughness is a mechanical property of interest in structural design where load impact must be considered, as in the construction of silos, bridges and formwork for reinforced concrete structures. However, toughness is not an integral part of the mechanical properties commonly investigated in the characterization of this material. This study aimed to investigate, with the aid of analysis of variance and Charpy pendulum test, the influence of moisture content (30; 20; 12; 6; 0%) to obtain the toughness of angelim saia (Vatairea sp), Eucalyptus grandis, Pinus elliottii and Corimbia citriodora wood species, considering the orientation of growth rings in relation to the direction of impact load. Statistical analysis carried out using ANOVA and Tukey test revealed significant influence of moisture content on toughness only with respect to angelim saia wood. Statistical analysis also showed equivalent results for the other three species, that is, moisture content did not significantly influence toughness. Thus, we conclude that moisture content may be significant in obtaining toughness according to the wood species analyzed and higher moisture content can provide higher values of toughness.

This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining wood-polymer composites (WPC) displaying a performance superior to that of untreated wood from reforested genera. To this end, wood samples of Pine (Pinus caribaea) and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus grandis), whose density is compatible with this process, were impregnated with the polymeric monomers styrene and methyl methacrylate, using benzoyl peroxide to initiate the polymerization process forming free radicals. The vacuum-pressure method was used to impregnate the samples with monomer-initiator solution. The results indicated a significant improvement of all the properties investigated, including dimensional stability, for the Pine-WPC, while Eucalyptus-WPC, owing to the wood's low permeability, showed only increased values of hardness parallel and perpendicular to grain.