ABSTRACT
Wood is the best-known biological material used as a raw material since the dawn of mankind until present days. As a natural and renewable composite, its lifetime is limited by the degradation of its basic elements. This degradation can be caused by chemical reactions or by biological agents capable of accelerating the process of deterioration. In this work, the wear, thermal, and micro-structural characteristics, as also the bio-degradation behavior in static systems, of the wood species Brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata) were studied under laboratory conditions in order to use these woods in design. The results show that Brazilwood has a good visual performance after abrasion test, since it has not shown any representative roughness increase. In addition, Brazilwood has high level of crystallinity of, approximately, 68% and was almost insensitive to fungi attack, forming only 5.3 x 103 CFU/mL. Besides, its texture did not change due to exposure to water or sweat.
Keywords:
Wood surface texture; Wood wear; Brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata)
