Route to European Strength Classes for Malaysian Timbers

There are two ways to incorporate a Malaysian timber species into the European strength class system. Properties that determine the corresponding strength class are expressed as “characteristic values”. Characteristic values shall be derived from the results of bending test of structural size specimens. The other means is to manipulate the data of small clear specimen bending test. EN 384 permits the derivation of characteristic values for hardwood species through conversion of small clear specimen test results, provided that the relationship between the two sets of data is statistically proven. This article presents route maps to demonstrate the way forward for the Malaysian timbers to be incorporated in the European strength class system.