Characterization of strength properties of branchwood and stemwood of some tropical hardwood species

The mechanical strength properties of the branchwood of Aningeria robusta and Terminalia ivorensis with diameters ranging from 10 to 25 cm were examined to determine the suitability of branchwood as raw material for downstream processing. The study precisely assessed the static bending strengths, compression strengths and shear strengths parallel to the grain of the branchwood and stemwood of T. ivorensis and A. robusta. It was observed that under static bending, the overall (sapwood and heartwood combined) modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity of the branchwood of A. robusta and T. ivorensis were lower than that of their corresponding stemwood. The results further show that the overall compression and shear strengths parallel to the grain of the branchwood of A. robusta and T. ivorensis were higher than that of their corresponding stemwood. Under static bending, compression parallel to the grain, and shear parallel to the grain, the experimental results indicate that the sapwood of the branchwood from both T. ivorensis and A. robusta had lower strength values than that of their corresponding heartwood. Similar results were recorded for the stemwood of T. ivorensis where the heartwood had higher strength values than the sapwood. However, in the case of the stemwood of A. robusta, the sapwood had higher strength values than the corresponding heartwood.