Machinability Study of Australia’s Dominate Plantation Timber Resources

Abstract

This study tested the machinability of three major timber species grown in Tasmania, Australia, under different resource management schemes: plantation fiber-managed hardwood (Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Eucalyptus nitens Maiden) and plantation sawlog-managed softwood (Pinus radiata D. Don). P. radiata was used as a control to identify significant differences in machining fibre-managed plantation timber against sawlog-managed plantation timber with numerically controlled computer technology and manually fed timber production techniques. The potential to fabricate architectural interior products such as moldings with plantation fiber-managed hardwood timber that is high in natural features was the focus of this study. Correlations between wood species, variation in moisture content, and density of individual machinability characteristics were analyzed to determine factors impacting the overall quality of plantation wood machinability. Correlations between species and within species groups from the resulting machinability tests are highlighted and discussed. The results indicate that the machinability of sawlog-managed softwood P. radiata is superior in some circumstances to fiber-managed hardwood E. globulus and E. nitens specimens, according to the American Society for Testing and Materials D1666-11.Forests 2019, 10, 805 2 of 15 an opportunity to utilize hardwood pulplogs to produce value-added architectural products with advanced manufacturing technologies such as computer numerically controlled (CNC) machinery.The key driver for this research is refocusing hardwood plantation resources into higher-value sawn board applications for furniture and architectural products. To design and manufacture such products, the suitability of processing pulplog with CNC or manually operator-controlled technologies is needed to determine: (i) the machinability of timber derived from pulplogs according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D1666-11 (Standard Test Methods for Conducting Machining Tests on Wood and Wood-Based Materials, 2011) [2] and (ii) the timber properties that most affect the quality of finish for each species.Utilizing low-quality and low-value plantation logs has been a global topic for a long time [3]. In recent times, Eucalypts have attracted much attention for improving the genetics for solidwood production [4] and utilization in value-added materials and product research [5], particularly mass-timber product development such as nail-laminated beams [6] and cross-laminated timber paneling [7]. Traditional wood products (board and veneer), engineered wood products (glulam) and wood-based panels (particleboard and medium-density fiberboard) have revolutionized the way wood is used in the built environment. Wood used in an appearance application relies on a high-quality surface finish to accommodate its final use [8], as well as the application of paints or lamella overlays. The literature consists of various machinability studies that investigate the quality of wood product surface f...

Machinability of 28-year old plantation-grown Eucalyptus globoidea timber

“…The generally good machinability of E. globoidea was consistent with reports for other plantation-grown higher density eucalypts (Belleville et al 2016). In contrast, plantation-grown nondurable, medium density eucalypts (E. nitens and E. globulus) were shown more challenging to machine than P. radiata (Kotlarewski et al 2019).…”

“…Similar boring, E. globoidea produced signi cantly better-quality mortising nishes than P. radiata (Tables 1 and 2). The known di culty in mortising P. radiata (Kotlarewski et al 2019;Young 1988) was re ected in the low mean grade (4.8 out of 5) and machine machining score of 0%. As for boring, the worst defect occurred for both species when the tool exited the piece (Tables 1 and 3).…”

Machinability Research of the Most Common Invasive Tree Species in Slovenia

“…Data on the quality of machining for a particular tree species is critical and should be available to every producer of wooden products. Many machining tests have recently been done for various exotic and non-traditional tree species [14][15][16][17][18]. In some cases, the quality of the machined surface can significantly affect the quality of the surface coatings as well as the quality of the bonded connection [19,20].…”