EFFECT OF THE TRANSVERSAL SECTION DIMENSIONS AND TRANSDUCER FREQUENCY ON ULTRASOUND WAVE PROPAGATION VELOCITY IN WOOD

Several works use the ultrasound wave propagation velocity as the main parameter to determine the mechanical properties of wood. Since this velocity can be influenced by the specimen's dimension or by the transducer's frequency, this influence must be known to obtain reliable results. During research on the influence of specimen dimension on destructive testing of the compression parallel to the grain, 0.03 x 0.03 x 0.09 m and 0.05 x 0.05 x 0.15 m specimens were tested to evaluate the variation in wave propagation velocity as a function of specimen dimension and transducer frequency used in the tests. To evaluate transducer influence, the tests were carried out with 25 kHz, 45 kHz, 80 kHz, 100 kHz, 500 kHz and 1 MHz longitudinal transducers on 119 specimens of Pinus elliottii and 244 specimens of Eucalyptus grandis. The results show that, for both species, the transversal section dimension has an effect on ultrasound wave propagation and that longitudinal velocity was strongly affected by transducer frequency below 500 kHz, confirming the importance of adopting during the tests specimen length / wave length above 3.0.