Scaling properties of wood fractured surfaces are obtained from samples of
three different sizes. Two different woods are studied: Norway spruce and M
aritime pine. Fracture surfaces are shown to display an anomalous dynamic s
caling of the crack roughness. This anomalous scaling behavior involves the
existence of two different and independent roughness exponents. We determi
ne the local roughness exponents zeta(loc) to be 0.87 for spruce and 0.88 f
or pine. These results are consistent with the conjecture of a universal lo
cal roughness exponent. The global roughness exponent is different for both
woods, zeta=1.60 for spruce and zeta=1.35 for pine. We argue that the glob
al roughness exponent zeta is a good index for material characterization. [
S1063-651X(98)00512-1].