The Impact of Anatomical Characteristics on the Structural Integrity of Wood

The structural integrity of wood is closely related to its brittleness and thus to its suitability for numerous applications where dynamic loads, wear and abrasion occur. The structural integrity of wood is only vaguely correlated with its density, but affected by different chemical, physico-structural and anatomical characteristics, which are difficult to encompass as a whole. This study aimed to analyze the results from High-Energy Multiple Impact (HEMI) tests of a wide range of softwood and hardwood species with an average oven-dry wood density in a range between 0.25 and 0.99 g/cm3 and multifaceted anatomical features. Therefore, small clear specimens from a total of 40 different soft- and hardwood species were crushed in a heavy vibratory ball mill. The obtained particles were fractionated and used to calculate the ‘Resistance to Impact Milling (RIM)’ as a measure of the wood structural integrity. The differences in structural integrity and thus in brittleness were predominantly affected by anatomical characteristics. The size, density and distribution of vessels as well as the ray density of wood were found to have a significant impact on the structural integrity of hardwoods. The structural integrity of softwood was rather affected by the number of growth ring borders and the occurrence of resin canals. The density affected the Resistance to Impact Milling (RIM) of neither the softwoods nor the hardwoods.