How wood chemistry relates to structural stability

Wood has many uses, which require to know its shrinking and swelling capacity in relation to humidity (known as dimensional stability). Researchers from the CNRS and Cirad have shown that in Bagassa guianensis, a fast-growing Guianese tree, the secondary metabolites, whose main purpose is to defend the tree against insects and fungi, also serve to reduce shrinkage. These metabolites therefore make B. guianensis wood very stable. These results were obtained using a method that will be applied to