Effect of span length on the impact bending strength of poplar and pine woods

Solid wood is an important engineering material. Solid wood has superior properties, such as being renewable, easily processed, relatively inexpensive, and having higher mechanical properties relative to its density than any other engineering materials. Density, moisture content, tree species, knots, cracks, and some other variables influence the mechanical properties of wood. In this study, the effect of span length on the impact bending strength (IBS) of wood was investigated. Poplar and pine wood samples were used as test materials in the experiments. The IBS measurements were carried out following TS 2477 (1976) using a pendulum impact bending machine. Tests were conducted for various span lengths of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 cm. The results indicated that there is a relationship between IBS and span length. The highest impact bending strength was obtained with a span length of 10 cm for poplar and pine wood. The relationship between IBS and span length was parabolic. The coefficients of determination were 0.94 and 0.99 for poplar and pine wood, respectively.