ABSTRACT
Thermal treatments arise as an alternative to increase the physical and biological properties of wood, though they usually cause a reduction in mechanical strength. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the brittleness of Eucalyptus wood submitted to freezing and heat treatments. Freezing occurred with green condition specimens and the heat treatment with samples in equilibrium moisture content (20°C and 65% RH). The static bending test was carried out on an EMIC® universal testing machine. The freezing showed slight changes in the mechanical properties of Eucalyptus wood, not differing from natural wood. The treatments with high temperatures caused significant losses in mechanical strength, evidenced by decreases in maximum load and increases in brittleness. In the combined treatments, there was no sum of effects. Therefore, heat treatments modify the mechanical properties of wood, increasing its brittleness and following the tendency that, as the temperature increases, the mechanical resistance decreases.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank Miss Bia Carneiro for the English revision of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
ORCID
Henrique W. Dalla Costa http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2770-9453
Rodrigo Coldebella http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7063-1874
Fernanda R. Andrade http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1996-5801
Marina Gentil http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-1711
Ronan Correa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3989-9271
Darci A. Gatto http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6805-3243
André L. Missio http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-6313