Paulownia (Paulownia elongataS.Y.Hu)–importance for forestry and a generalscreening of technological and material properties

In Austria, paulownia (Paulownia spp.) has not been approved as a forest species. Because of theenormous annual growth and the promising mechanical and physical properties of this treespecies, it is grown in short-rotation and value timber plantations in Central Europe. Previousstudies have addressed the forestry and silvicultural aspects of different plant materials and issuesin wood technology and wood physics based on small sample collections. Broad materialscreening for the technological evaluation of paulownia, samples obtained in large quantities fromplantations, has not been conducted thus far. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a generaloverview of the technological, physical and mechanical properties of this wood species, inaddition to basic forestry considerations. The wood samples for the experiments were obtainedfrom an Austrian experimental plantation. In addition to wood drying, natural durability, workability and gluing, density and swelling/shrinking behaviour were investigated, and acomprehensive characterisation of all strength and stiffness properties was performed. The resultswill enable the modelling of paulownia wood to determine its static and dynamic loads, as well asthe crash behaviour, using thefinite element method (FEM) and well-founded assessments of thematerial’s workability.