Comparison of wood and knot on wear behaviour of pine timber

The wear behaviour of the wood and knot of pine timber is evaluated at ambient conditions. The experiment is carried out under dry sliding conditions using a pin-on-disc apparatus. Wear testing parameters are chosen as 20N load, sliding velocity of 0.64 ms -1 and sliding distance ranging from 200m-4500m. The worn surfaces are characterized by optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy. Hardness of wood and knot samples is measured in Durometer hardness tester, tensile testing by an Instron testing machine and density of the samples is calculate from the data of volume and weight. The results of the wear test reveal that the knot shows the better wear properties due to higher strength and density. SEM study of the knot and wood disclose that the knot contents compact cell wall than that of wood.