Mechanical behaviour of Eucalyptus wood modified by heat

Eucalyptus wood (Blue gum) shows very high mechanical performances, present s very few knots and gives strong glued joints, reasons that justify its in terest for structural uses, carpentry and furniture components or even buil ding construction. The inconveniences of this species are its slow and diff icult drying process and its low dimensional stability - with very high swe lling and shrinkage coefficients. The drying process has been studied at INETI and the problem revealed to be solved with appropriate drying schedules and the stresses released by a st eam treatment. Heat treatment of Eucalyptus wood has been identified as one of the most promising techniques to increase its dimensional stability. St udies in this area still proceed. This paper presents some test results that show the influence of heat treat ment in the strength properties of this wood, namely the bending modulus of elasticity and tensile strength perpendicular to grain, in addition to the explanation of dimensional stability evaluation and some results of dimens ional stability treatments.