Strength grading settings for EN 14081-4

04 2012

A paper to shed light on the machine strength grading of sawn wood in Poland and in Europe has been published in the “Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences”. The authors of the acknowledged paper are Dr. Krzosek, ordinary professor of the faculty for wood technology at the University of Life Sciences Warsaw, and Dipl. Ing. Bacher, software engineer and officer for accreditation at Microtec.

Thanks to the meticulous analysis and evaluation of the author Slawomir Krzosek, Microtec has been able to add specific settings for strength grading of polish pine according to EN 14081 beginning with March 2011.

The certified strength grading solutions for polish pine by Microtec are:

  • Viscan, the optical vibrometer in transversal transport for sawn wood based on an advanced laser interferometer;
  • Viscan Compact, the optical vibrometer in transversal transport for sawn wood based on an advanced laser interferometer and an industrial scale;
  • Viscan Plus, the optical vibrometer in transversal transport for sawn wood based on an advanced laser interferometer and an x-ray density meter;
  • Goldeneye 702, the Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner based on x-ray technology in longitudinal transport
  • Goldeneye 706, the Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner based on x-ray technology in longitudinal transport and laser interferometer in transversal transport.


Furthermore, the scientific paper confirms that Microtec’s grading machines “are able to grade pine wood from the contiguous growth area Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and Austria into the C-quality classes (C16, C18, C24, TR26, C27, C30, C35, C40). In Poland pine is mostly used in the construction industry while spruce has local relevance. Machine sorting is essential for using pine in refined construction products such as glued-laminated timber, solid construction timber, panels and formwork beams. The machine grading features substantial advantages over the visual inspection because the knots are on average larger in pine than in spruce.“

Source:
Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW
Forestry and Wood Technology No. 74, 2011: 254-259