INFLUENCE OF COMMERCIAL THERMAL TREATMENT ON Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden WOOD PROPERTIES

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the influence of commercial thermal treatment on Eucalyptus grandis considering its physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. The wood samples were heat-treated in an autoclave with saturated steam and pressure application at four different temperatures: 155, 165, 175, and 185 ºC. The physical, chemical, and mechanical properties were altered due to the heat treatment. The extractives content varied between 6.06% and 28.75%; lignin between 28.93% and 37.96%; holocellulose between 65.01% and 38.12%. The mechanical properties reduced significantly with the increase of the heat treatment temperature. Through the set of data obtained, it was possible to generate significant and high precision regression models capable of estimating such properties for heat treatment temperatures not studied experimentally, enabling the determination of the most suitable temperature of heat treatment to achieve a certain property value of the treated wood.