Comparison Study between Hardwood and Softwood

Abstract

The mechanical properties of 2 types of wood, hardwood (teakwood) and softwood (jamwood) investigated. The compressive strength parallel and perpendicular to the grain were determined. The flexural strength perpendicular to the grain, density, and moisture content were also determined.It was found that the direction of loading affects all mechanical properties of wood. The maximum density and mechanical performance were obtained with hardwood (teakwood), also the moisture content of hardwood is much lower than the moisture content of softwood (jamwood), but hardwood is more expensive than softwood and this may be due to that the rate of growth of hardwood is much lower than the rate of growth of softwood