Measurement of wood surface roughness in Dinizia excelsa Ducke using an atomic force microscope

Abstract

Measurement techniques of nanoscale parameters have been vastly explored nowadays. In systems such as wood that possess anisotropic surfaces, these techniques provide reliable data on the surface morphology and related parameters. The atomic force microscope (AFM) and optical microscope were used to investigate the roughness and surface morphology of Dinizia excelsa. Cuts were made in different directions generating three distinct surfaces: radial, tangential and transverse. The samples went through a sanding process to reveal the original morphology of the steering. Both techniques show that the surface texture is different according to the analysed surface. The lowest roughness was observed on the transverse plane while the highest occurred on the radial. The comparison of the morphology evaluation by the two techniques allowed us to see that the AFM technique revealed the most sensitive images in smaller scales. These results confirmed that the AFM can provide satisfactory results for the surface parameters of Dinizia excelsa depending on the cut direction. This type of analysis can be useful in laboratory species identification processes and in deforestation inspection processes in the Amazon