WOOD: its importance in our life

IRG/WP 12-40583

I Usta

As it is described by Hoadley (1980) and Tsoumis (1991), wood is an organic material yielded by trees which increase in diameter by the formation of new woody layers which envelop the entire stem. Wood has served man since he appeared on Earth (as a fuel and/or as a construction material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, paper, and artworks). It is important to appreciate the extent to which our civilization has evolved with a dependence upon wood due to its numerous properties and characteristic qualities. Although wood is still continuing to be the main raw material for a large number of products, the other materials (such as metals, cement, plastics, etc.) became popular in recent days regarding to the growth of the world population and the change of the firm’s preferences on the production theory to carry out the efficient competitiveness in either domestic or global market. Nowadays, almost all the companies aim to increase their income by the manufacturing of the demanded goods in the absolute fastest way which should be the easier and the cheaper application for merchandising. In this phenomenia, wood may not be primarily selective material even the design of indoor decorations requires the wooden construction. However, this fiction should be essentially changed for our future life. Because, its aesthetic appearences and its natural behaviour, wood is one of the environmentally friendly materials and it could supply either constructional or convertional requirements to create a great number of products.This article therefore aimed to show some explanations on why wood is important in our life. This article is a review of literature about the natural materials with an emphasis on the structural behaviour, and is written as an introduction to wood for anyone who interests to the field of construction. The information provided from the various books, articles and web sites have been combined in a suitable organisation for preparation the monolithic manuscript. In order to keep the integrity of the main text, citations were identified with a code number through the paper and they were presented in detail on the references section.


Keywords: wood, wood material, wood construction, vulnerable behavior of wood

Conference: 12-05-06/10 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


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