Influence of Sahelian and Sudanian provenances on the physical and mechanical properties of Faidherbia albida wood from Chad

Abstract

Faidherbia albida is a typical emblematic species of African dryland areas. In Chad, it is used for many purposes, but very little is known about the technological properties of its wood, which sometimes leads to inappropriate uses. This work consisted to study the physical and mechanical properties of this wood, collected in the Sahelian and Sudanian chadian zone. As well as the impact study of the sampling areas of these properties. The result obtained shows that, the density, infradensity; modulus of elasticity, compression strength were significantly higher in the Sahelian zone than in the Sudanian zone, i.e. 508 and 409 kg·m−3 ; 5555 and 23.7 MPa, compared to 444 and 359 kg·m−3 ; 4150 and 19.6 MPa. The total tangential shrinkage, total volumetric shrinkage, fibre saturation point; static bending strength were significantly lower in wood from the Sahelian zone compared to the Sudanian zone, i.e. 4.6%, 7.7%, 23.7%; 42.5 MPa, compared to 6.6%, 9.5%, 28.9%; 52.6 MPa. The total radial shrinkage values obtained were not significantly different between the two provenances (mean: 3.1%).