Abstract

Rubber wood is highly susceptible to the attack of biological organisms. The processing industries may need to store the wood at least for a few months. The present study investigated the effect of under-water storage on the strength properties of rubber wood. Rubber wood sizes stored under water for 3, 4, 5 and 6 months were subjected to static bending and compression parallel to grain tests. The strength data were corrected to 12 moisture content and compared with the strength data of non-ponded air-dried wood. It was found that the properties like modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and fibre stress at limit of proportionality (FSLP) and density decreased with the storage period. But the percentage reduction in properties of wood stored under water for various lengths of time does not show any uniform trend. Test of significance by the ANOVA technique showed that the decrease was not statistically significant up to a period of 3-4 months can be used