The ultra structure and chemical composition of wood, as well as its physical and mechanical properties vary significantly among species, trees of a given species and even among different parts of a given tree. This work aimed to study the parameters of shrinkage and basic density of 16-year-old Eucalyptus saligna wood, originated from Embrapa Forests experimental stands in Colombo, Parana. The samples were collected at DBH from four equidistant positions from the pith to the bark, corresponding to 0,33, 66 and 100%, with nominal dimensions of 1.0 x 2.0 x 3.0 cm, with the latter being longitudinal-wise. They were kept inside a closed chamber under ventilation and near supersaturated saline solutions so as to provide different relative humidity conditions. Once these conditions were reached, the samples were oven-dried at 105 ºC . Shrinkage and basic density data were obtained in the four populations studied. Lower volumetric shrinkage values were found near the pith, increasing in the other positions. Similar behavior was observed for the linear shrinkage coefficients in the tangential and radial directions. The anisotropic factor, i.e., the relationship between tangential and radial shrinkage (T/R), was highest in the pith region, decreasing substantially towards the sapwood. Basic density did not show any signs of effective stability, despite its tendency to increase towards the outer stem.
Shrinkage; Eucalyptus saligna; basic density; radial variation
