Characterising Softwood Sawn Products

Lead researcher: Associate Professor Rameez Rameezdeen

This project is capturing a representative sample of softwood sawn-timber production from 13 major Australian sawmills. The sampled timber is being tested at the University of South Australia (UniSA) and results analysed to provide feedback to the industry on the structural properties of their sawn timber products; and provide a benchmark of Machine Graded Pine (MGP) properties that can be compared against the results of previous and future test programs. Benefits include:

• Dedicated in-grade timber testing facility established at the UniSA Mawson Lakes Campus as part of the UniSA’s Specialised Testing and Research Unit.
• The timber testing ‘production line’ is optimised to process bending, tension, compression and shear tests from structural timber up to 6m long with associated moisture and density data. Four test machines have been installed.
• UniSA has recruited a Testing Coordinator and this and two other roles associated with the project.
• Rigorous data capture and storage software; using REDCap, has been developed by UniSA’s information technology team to track samples, identify the piece and preparation of the biased and random bending test specimens and ensure the integrity of the project results.

Our team:  Rameez Rameezdeen, Julie Mills, Yan Zhuge, Xing Ma, Mark Ellis, Chris Chow, Jim O'Hehir, Ben Evans, Geoffrey Boughton (TimberED Services), Jon Shanks (TimberED Services)