An investigation on the mechanical properties of trunks of palm oil trees for the furniture industry

High quality wood furniture requires several factors, such as properties of woods, product design, production process and control, which must be considered. Mechanical properties are considered to be some of the most important factors at the stages of product design and material selection. A comparison of mechanical properties between palm oil wood, rubberwood and teak, which are widely used in the furniture industry, is the objective of this study. The base, middle and top samples were cut from palm oil trunks and seven parameters were measured using standard methods and procedures. They included specific gravity, moisture content, bending stress, tensile stress perpendicular-to-grain, hardness, compressive stress parallel-to-grain, and impact stress. The overall results showed that the mechanical properties of palm oil trunk were approximately two times lower than those of teak and rubberwood. Different portions of the palm oil trunk also gave different mechanical properties. It was found that the base of the palm oil trunk gave the lowest modulus of elasticity than the top portion but provided higher hardness than the others. Hence, this study provides essential information on the suitability of palm oil wood for applications in the furniture industry