Interest in paulownia wood (Paulownia tomentosa) has grown in the last few years, and with that the need to better understand its mechanical properties. The aim of the study was to determine some macroscopic structural properties and the physio-mechanical properties of timber obtained from a commercial supplier. Samples were taken from glued solid panels. Samples were sorted into juvenile and adult wood groups according to the width and geometry of annual growth rings. Standard tests were used to determine the width of annual growth rings, density of the wood, bending strength and modulus of elasticity, compression strength, shear strength and the impact bending strength. Wood of paulownia has annual growth of more than 20 mm, while the width of annual growth rings and density of juvenile and adult wood do not differ. The results suggest a lower density of wood with increasing annual growth ring width. Using the mean low density of wood of 267 kg/m3, low values of compression, shear and bending strength were also determined. For compression and bending strength we confirmed positive correlation with the wood density. Adult wood of paulownia had only 10% better impact bending strength than juvenile wood. Due to the small test population, the difference was not statistically significant.
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