Quality of guanandi wood (Calophyllum brasiliense Camb.) after heat treatment

The scarcity of native forests and the national code that protects them have made it difficult to obtain timber considered as a good quality, thus making it necessary to discover new species or practices that make reforestation timber an alternative to reduce pressure on native forests. The objective of this study was to analyze the behavior of Guanandi wood ( Calophyllum brasiliense Camb.) regarding its physical properties when subjected to heat treatment and compare it to natural wood. In this work, boards were obtained from the basal logs of five 13-year-old trees, which were subjected to high temperatures, namely 140, 160, 180, 200 and 220°C, and their physical properties were analyzed, such as basic specific gravity, apparent specific gravity at 12% humidity, loss of mass of the heat treatment boards, swelling, as well as the presence of warping and surface and/or end cracks. The results showed that mass loss, basic density and anisotropy coefficient increased with increasing temperature, even in relation to natural wood. Density at 12% and linear and volumetric dimensions decreased with increasing temperature, even in relation to natural wood. Temperatures of 180, 200 and 220°C generally caused defects such as cracks in the direction of the pith and cupping, which were not present at lower temperatures or in the control.