MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ROTARY VENEERS RECOVERED

FROM EARLY TO MID-ROTATION PLANTATION EUCALYPTUS LOGS

Benoit P. Gilbert1, Henri Bailleres2, Hao Zhang3, Robert L. McGavin4

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the mechanical properties of rotary veneers peeled from small-diameter hardwood
plantation logs, recovered from early to mid-rotation hardwood plantations. Two species planted for solid timber end-
products (Gympie messmate - Eucalyptus cloeziana and spotted gum - Corymbia citriodora) and one species
traditionally grown for pulpwood (southern blue gum - Eucalyptus globulus) were studied. The logs were peeled to
produce 2.5 mm nominal thick veneers. The Modulus of Elasticity (MOE), compressive and tensile Modulus of Rupture
(MOR) of the veneers, parallel to the grain, were experimentally investigated. The variability within each species is
presented herein. The study aims to ultimately predict the capacity and reliability of plywood and LVL structural
products manufactured from rotary veneers recovered from early to mid-rotation hardwood plantation logs. Future work
and methodologies are discussed.

KEYWORDS: Hardwood, Eucalyptus, Plantation, Veneers, Mechanical properties

1 INTRODUCTION 123 small diameter logs and three different hardwood

Early to mid-rotation hardwood plantation logs have
currently little to no commercial value in Australia. To
justify continued expansion of Australia’s current
hardwood plantation estates, it is becoming necessary to
develop high value end-use products from these small
diameter (about 15 to 30 cm) logs [1].
In this effort, plywood and LVL products have been
manufactured and tested by the Queensland Government
[2]. Despite proven potential to make attractive structural
products, veneer based composite structural products
manufactured from these small diameter logs cannot
currently be used as, due to high proportion of natural
defects (knots, resin veins, etc.), the variability in their
mechanical properties is not fully understood, and their
actual strength needs to be investigated. Additionally, for
species traditional used for pulpwood, species selection
and breeding have focused on achieving high pulp yield,
density and volume, which may adversely affect
important mechanical properties for high value-added
solid wood products [3].
In this paper, the mechanical properties in tension and
compression parallel to the grain of veneers peeled from
1 for the spotted gum, Gympie messmate and southern
Benoit P. Gilbert, Griffith University, Australia,
b.gilbert@griffith.edu.au
2
Henri Bailleres, Salisbury Research Facility, Australia,
henri.bailleres@daf.qld.gov.au
3
Hao Zhang, The University of Sydney, Australia,
hao.zhang@usyd.edu.au
4 Robert L. McGavin, Salisbury Research Facility, Australia,
robbie.mcgavin@daf.qld.gov.au
Eucalyptus species are investigated and presented.
Gympie messmate (Eucalyptus cloeziana) and spotted
gum (Corymbia citriodora), planted for solid timber end-
products, and southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus),
traditionally planted for pulpwood, are selected.
The veneer properties will be used to predict the
Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) and Modulus of Rupture
(MOR) of Plywood and LVL structural products
manufactured from these small diameter logs. The
methodology used and the preliminary results are
presented.
2 SAMPLES PREPARATION
Logs in 1.3 m lengths were rotary peeled to produce
nominal 2.5 mm thick veneers at the Salisbury Research
Facility, Brisbane, Australia, using a spindle-less lathe.
The logs were cut from three different sites for each of
the spotted gum and southern blue gum species and one
site for the Gympie messmate species. In total 90 veneer
sheets of nominal 1.2 m width were selected per species.
The veneer sheets were selected to best represent the
entire range of MOE encountered for each species. The
sheets were selected from 43, 20 and 43 different trees
blue gum species, respectively.
Each veneer sheet was then cut into three 400 mm wide
strips.
The MOE of each strip was determined using a non-
destructive acoustic method by recording the natural
frequency of the veneer strip and analysing it using the
software BING® (Beam Identification by Non- Table 1: Linear correlation coefficients between MOR and
destructive Grading) [4]. average MOE
The three strips per veneer sheet were then glued
together in a LVL configuration at elevated temperature
and pressure using a readily available commercial Compressive tests Tension tests
Phenol-Formaldehyde adhesive system (Momentive’s Species a b R2 a b R2
-3 -3
PP1158). This configuration aims at capturing the ×10 (MPa) ×10 (MPa)
average properties of each sheet including the glue used GM 2.1 30.4 0.58 4.8 -5.8 0.57
during manufacturing. After gluing, the obtained 3-Ply SPG 2.6 18.1 0.61 5.7 -23.3 0.50
LVLs were sawn into one 630 mm long × 100 mm wide SBG 1.6 28.5 0.61 4.2 11.1 0.55
sample for compression testing and one 1,130 mm long
× 150 mm wide sample for tension testing. 5 FUTURE WORK
The samples were conditioned at 20°C and 65% relative
The final aim of this project is to predict the reliability of
humidity before testing.
plywood and LVL structural products manufactured
from the small diameter logs, without the need of
3 MATERIAL TESTING expensive and time consuming experimental testing. To
3.1 COMPRESSION TESTS achieve this purpose five 8-ply LVL boards manufac-
tured from Spotted Gum veneers have been tested in 4-
The 630 mm long samples were prevented from lateral
points bending. The mechanical properties of each
buckling every 50 mm by rollers and tested in
veneer in the boards have been characterised using the
compression in a 500 kN universal MTS testing
experimental setting explained in Section 3.1 and 3.2.
machine, at a stroke rate of 0.8 mm/min to reach failure
At the time of writing, a Finite Element (FE) model is
between 3 to 5 mins.
being verified against the 4-points bending test results.
Based on the veneer MOR distribution presented in
3.2 TENSION TESTS Figure 1 and Table 1, the FE model will be used in
The 1,130 mm long samples were clamped between conjunction with Monte-Carlo simulations to estimate
curved and knurled jaws, leaving a testing length of 500 the strength and reliability of plywood and LVL
mm between the jaws. The curved jaws aimed at manufactured from various veneer grades. Preliminary
minimising stress concentration at clamping and results will be presented in the full paper.
ensuring failure between jaws. The tests were performed
in a custom built testing machine at a load rate of 30 6 CONCLUSIONS
kN/min to best reach failure between 3 to 5 mins.
This paper presented the compressive and tensile
4 RESULTS mechanical properties of rotary veneers recovered from
early to mid-rotation hardwood plantations. Future study
Figure 1 gives the relationship between the average directions are also presented.
measured MOE of the veneer strips and compressive
MOR for the Gympie messmate 3-ply LVL samples.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project is supported by the Australian Research
Council under project DE140100212.

Figure 1: Compressive MOR vs MOE for Gympie Messmate
Table 1 presents the linear correlation coefficients a and
b in the form,
MOR = MOE × a + b
between the MOR and average MOE of the veneer strips
obtained from the tests. The coefficient of determination
R2 is also given in Table 1.
REFERENCES
[1] R.L. McGavin, M.P. Davies, J. Macgregor-Skinner,
H. Bailleres, M. Armstrong, W.J. Atyeo, J. Norton,
Utilisation Potential and Market Opportunities for
Plantation Hardwood Thinnings from Queensland and
Northern New South Wales, PN05.2022, Department of
Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland
Department, 2006.
[2] R.L. McGavin, H. Bailleres, F. Lane, J. Fehrmann,
High value timber composite panels from hardwood
plantation thinnings, Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry, Brisbane, Australia, 2012.
[3] H. Bailleres, J. Gerard, M. Fournier, B. Thibaut
"Wood quality of eucalyptus from plantations. 1. Spatio
temporal variations and influence factors of three basic
properties. ", IAWA journal, 16, 9-10, 1995.
(1) [4] CIRAD, BING® (Beam Identification by
Nondestructive Grading) software,
https://www.picotech.com/library/application-note/non-
destructive-testing-of-wood, Accessed on 25/09/2015.