Evaluation of Some Physical and Mechanical Properties of Date Palm Trunk

On the physical-mechanical properties of tree trunk wood, many species of trees have been thoroughly investigated, but in the case of date palm stem, so far, nothing has been done except for limited cases. In this study, some physical and mechanical properties of date palm trunk of the most important date cultivars in Sistan and Baluchestan province (Mazafati, Rabbi and Zardan), by ages between 10 to 50 years old were investigated. These properties are as moisture content, actual and apparent mass (density), compressive strength in the longitudinal and transverse directions and flexural strength for three-dimensional wood species. The results showed that Rabbi Cultivar had the highest moisture content (11.05 %) and Zardan cultivar had the lowest moisture content (6.68 %). Also, in terms of density, Mazafati cultivar had the highest density (0.76 gr / cm(3)) and Zardan cultivar had the lowest density (3.43 gr / cm(3)). The results of the compressive tests showed that the compressive strength in the direction of the fiber is far more than the vertical orientation of the fiber, while the Mazafati variety has the highest compressive and flexural strength and the Zardan has the least compressive and flexural strength.