Effect of thermal modification on wood properties of 38-year-old Cariniana legalis cultivated at different spacing

Abstract

Planting spacing influences wood production. However, for tropical species we have scarce information about the effect of spacing on production and wood quality. In general, wood from native species produced in reforestation does not have the same quality compared to that from natural forests. Then, wood thermal modification can help improve the potential for using wood. In this context, our goal was to evaluate the influence of thermal modification on properties of 38-year-old Cariniana legalis wood cultivated at different spacing (3 x 1.5m, 3 x 2m and 3 x 2.5m) at the Luiz Antônio Experimental Station, Luiz Antônio City, São Paulo. We felled 15 trees, five of each spacing, and from each tree, a log, 1 meter in length, a central plank was cut, and from these planks, we cut specimens for anatomical and wood properties investigations according to standard techniques. In the specimens, a thermal modification at a temperature of 200ºC was carried out for one hour and after the specimens were compared with the control specimens. According to the results presented, we found that spacing did not influence vessel diameter, apparent density and volumetric shrinkage significantly. Thermal modification reduced apparent density and volumetric shrinkage. The reduction in vessel diameter can be estimated as a function of the wood thermal modification.