Species / Strength
The Datasheets below covering individual timber species (about 8 currently being finalised for uploading) have been written as a result of PalletLink members’ requests and cover the species normally used by pallet and packaging manufacturers in Europe. The current shortage of many of the species traditionally used by pallet and packaging manufacturers has meant importation into the UK of hitherto little used wood species, which accounts for some non-traditional species listed below. We have a comprehensive set of data on file on timbers from South America, South Africa and the traditional suppliers in Europe, Baltic, Russia, and Canada/USA.
Strength testing of timber specimen
The strength of timber varies according to its rate of growth, density, spring to summerwood ratio, slope of grain, knots and moisture content. Information on species on this webpage lists timber strength at two moisture contents. These two moisture contents relate to the weakest strength condition (fresh cut) and also the strength condition at a moisture content more typical of pallets and boxes after a week or two in use - 20% emc.
A main concern to pallet and box makers is timber bending strength, since bending is the mode in which timber usually fails. This is measured using a test described in ISO 3133: Wood - Determination of ultimate strength in static bending. It is usually carried out using the ISO standard thickness of 20mm so the tests have great relevance to packaging timber users. There is no safety factor included, so the results are well suited for direct comparisons between species.
Only a small percentage of our data on timber is downloadable here. We have on file more species with full mechanical and physical data such as strength, stiffness, ease of drying, shrinkage, acidity, etc. Until all species are uploaded, if you have a need for a non-listed species we can send such information by e-mail. If you can supply specimens from a batch we are also able to assist by conducting bending strength testing to ISO 3133.
The units for comparison between species are industry standard SI units such as N/mm² (strength) or Nm (nail bending strength) but for those who require this, SI units are easily converted to Imperial/USA equivalent units of lb/in² or lb.ft using one of our downloadable spreadsheets on the EXCEL TOOLS page.
The North American test method for determination of ultimate strength in static bending uses a 2 inch standard for tests and most data from this source is given as 2 inch standard results. The difference between them is more than the mathematical conversion shows and extensive testing has shown that for an accurate comparison between North American and European values a further constant is needed for the conversion from the 2 inch to the 20mm size. The conversion constants for the parameters - Modulus of rupture (MOR), Modulus of elasticity (MOE) and Compression strength, are given in a Datasheet currently being finalised.
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71d Properties of new timbers - Parana pine - araucaria angustifolia (PDF 30kb)71h Baltic hardwoods and softwoods in pallet construction (PDF 18kb)71n Properties of timbers - Eastern White Pine - pinus strobus (PDF 20kb)79b Strength properties of 16 timber species for pallets and packaging (PDF 21kb)