Assessment of static and dynamic moduli of elasticity of antrocaryon micraster stemwood from semi-deciduous ecological zone in Ghana

The paper investigates an assessment of mechanical strength in relation to dynamic and static MOE of Antrocaryon micraster stemwood from the semi-deciduous ecological zone in Ghana. The objective was to assess the strength variation of Antrocaryon micraster stemwood along the axial direction, using destructive and non-destructive methods. Antrocaryon micraster stemwood that was divided into bottom, middle and top positions were prepared for the study. The results reveal that the stemwood bottom position obtained maximum density (530.43 kg/m³) representing 10% and 16.02% higher when compared to other corresponding positions (middle and top) respectively. For stemwood along the axial direction, the static MOE mean values were 18.54%, 22.82%, and 27.48% more than the dynamic MOE obtained in the bottom, middle and top positions, respectively. At 1% and 5% levels of significance, the position of the stemwood along the tree height has a significant effect on dynamic MOE and static MOE. Statistical evaluation with regression and Pearson correlation also indicates positive relationship with the variability of 50.4% and 71%, respectively. In a whole, the mechanical behaviour of the Antrocaryon micraster stemwood, especially the bottom position along the axial plane is considered wealthy to be selected for furniture applications.