Batch measurements of wood density

on intact or prepared drill cores using x-ray

microdensitometry
U. Bergsten, J. Lindeberg, A. Rindby, R. Evans
Abstract The performance of a batch scanning x-ray densitometer for measuring
wood density without sample preparation, i.e., on intact drill cores, or on
rectangular samples prepared from drill cores, was analysed. Effects of x-ray
intensity, sample thickness and ber direction, as well as extractives content, were
evaluated for young (mainly sapwood) and old (mainly heartwood) wood from
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). The x-
ray power level used as standard (1.4 kW; 40 kV and 35 mA) seemed appropriate
for the tested species and specimen thickness. The density of intact drill cores
could be determined with a mean standard deviation of 1.6% for each sample,
with a single machine run, if the cores were mounted with a xed ber direction
and calibrations were made for each wood type. The corresponding precision for
rectangular samples was 1.0%. Further improvements are attainable by using
standard reference samples in each machine run and batch-wise analysis. For the
chosen wood types and measurement technique, a sample thickness of 5 mm
should give the best precision. However, for species with very narrow rings,
thinner samples would improve the spatial resolution when ring boundaries are
angled or curved. Extractives should be removed, especially for pine, but possibly
also for spruce, if high precision in density determination is required.
Wood Science and Technology 35 (2001) 435452 Springer-Verlag 2001
Received 19 January 2000
U. Bergsten (&)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,
Dept. of Silviculture, 90183 Umea, Sweden
e-mail: Urban.Bergsten@ssko.slu.se
J. Lindeberg
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,
Dept. of Silviculture, 90183 Umea, Sweden
e-mail: Johan.Lindeberg@vfp.slu.se
A. Rindby
Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Goteborg, Sweden
e-mail: f3bar@fy.chalmers.se
R. Evans
CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, Private Bag 10,
Clayton South MDC, Victoria 3169, Australia
e-mail: Robert.Evans@ffp.csiro.au
435
Introduction
Optimisation of wood use should be striven for, and could be attained if wood
and ber properties are known for each batch of wood fed into the industry. Since
even within one species there are large variations in properties between trees,
stands, and regions, (Zobel and van Buijtenen 1989), an increased knowledge of
these variations is needed to optimise wood use. To increase our knowledge,
suitable tools to measure wood and ber properties are necessary.
Drill cores (radial increment cores) are often used to manually determine
growth rate. As increment coring is a cost efcient sampling method, analysis of
core samples is to be preferred (cf. Bergqvist et al. 1997). After appropriate
preparation of the cores, density can be indirectly measured by x-ray absorption
using a photographic plate as the primary detector (e.g., Polge 1963 and 1966,
Parker and Jozsa 1973), or more directly by monitoring x-ray absorption with an
electronic detector (e.g., Woods and Lawhon 1974, Cown and Clement 1983,
Jonsson et al. 1990). The electronic detector technique is fast and efcient, factors
of importance in promoting density as a parameter for forestry and wood re-
search as well as for forest industry planning.
One prerequisite for using drill cores for x-ray microdensitometry has been
further preparation of the cores. The conventional method is to saw each core
into a thin sample with uniform thickness before it is x-rayed. A sample thickness
of 1 mm is often considered optimal for the x-ray energy commonly used for
wood densitometry (Olson et al. 1988, Larsson et al. 1994). Wood sample prep-
aration may be tedious when higher efciency is sought.
One reason for preparing cores into thin uniform samples is that for thick
objects, image distortion will occur through geometrical aberration caused when
rays penetrate the objects in a non-perpendicular direction far from the optical
axis. Thus, density gradients which appear perpendicular to the optical axis (i.e.
growth layers in increment cores) will appear sharp in the radiographs only close
to the optical axis, while further away they will become smoothed out owing to
this geometrical effect. These phenomena will impose severe limitations, partic-
ularly for objects extended in the same direction as the density gradient to be
investigated. This is the case for increment cores where the main interest is to
investigate the density variation along the cores.
Another distortion factor for thick objects is the generation of forward-scattered
radiation, which will also be recorded in the same way as the transmitted radiation.
As the scattered radiation will be mainly emitted in the forward direction, it will
generate an overall blurring. The amount of scattered radiation will initially in-
crease with the thickness of the object. The high radiation energy required to
penetrate a thick object results in a large cross-section for Compton scattering in
the forward direction. For thinner objects where soft x-rays can be applied, the
problem is less severe as forward Compton scattering is substantially reduced.
However, forward coherent scattering still limits spatial resolution and
sensitivity, which is important when studying microstructures (Cosslet and Nixon
1960).
One way to avoid the problems of geometrical aberration and blurring from
scattered radiation is to use a small parallel beam and record the radiograph point
by point by moving the object in a regular way. Radiographs and elemental
distributions from uorescent signals have been recorded in this way by many
authors (Janssens et al. 2000). Although such radiographs show relevant features
it is a time-consuming method. If the density gradients to be investigated always
436
appear in one direction (like the ring structure in trees where the direction of the
density gradient coincides with the normal to the ring plane) a thin at beam,
extended in a direction perpendicular to the density gradients, can be used. This
will increase the photon ux and thus reduce the time of exposure. In this way
one-dimensional scans along the density gradient can be recorded with high
accuracy (cf. Pernestahl and Jonsson 1996).
However, as the density gradient in a drill core is not always in the same
direction, the plane of the at beam has to be adjusted whenever the direction of
the density gradient changes. Otherwise the ring structure will not appear sharp.
By combining the atbeam geometry with an x-ray array sensor it is possible to
record the transmitted intensity at each point across the atbeam plane. In this
way an entire radiographic image is built up by successively adding line by line as
the sample is moved in the beam. By using a thin slit between the object and the
array sensor, the geometrical aberration and the contribution of scattered radi-
ation can be reduced to practically zero in the vertical direction. In the horizontal
direction geometrical aberration still occurs but is limited by the small extension
of the object in this direction and also by the fact that density gradients are
assumed to be very small in this direction. Since the radiographic image is built
up from individual lines of radiographic data, practically free from geometrical
distortion and scattering blurring, no further processing or deconvolution needs
to be applied. The spatial resolution in the vertical direction is set by the width of
the slit in front of the array, and the resolution in the horizontal direction is set by
the size of the individual pixels in the array. The ultimate resolution will thus be
limited by the size of the penumbra (cf. Cosslet and Nixon 1960).
This technique of combining atbeam x-ray scanning with an array sensor
could be exploited to make x-ray microdensitometry even more efcient. The
main objective of this work was to analyse the accuracy of such a wood scanner
batch system for measuring wood density without sample preparation, i.e., on
intact drill cores, or on rectangular wood samples, prepared from drill cores.
Effects of factors with a possible inuence (e.g. Olson et al. 1988, Moschler and
Winistorfer 1990 and Kanowski and Wright 1985.), i.e., x-ray intensity, sample
thickness and ber direction, as well as content of extractives, were evaluated. The
wood types used were selected to give a variation in properties, i.e., young
(mainly sapwood) and old (mainly heartwood) wood from two typical conifer
species in the boreal forest, Scots pine and Norway spruce.
Material and methods
The atbeam wood scanner (Woodtrax)
Basic description. The Woodtrax (Cox Analytical Systems) combines radio-
graphic recording with an XRF spectrometer for elemental analysis (Fig. 1). The
instrument operates with a Cu (also Cr or Mo) diffraction x-ray tube as source
and uses a atbeam collimator and slit system for connement of the beam. The
slit system is 25 lm wide and 22 mm long. The recording device is a linear diode
array with 1024 elements, width 25 lm. Thus, the image pixel size is 25 lm both
horizontally and vertically. The system can batch process up to 20 increment
cores with a maximum length of 200 mm. With a typical exposure time of 20
milliseconds the readout gives 12 bits of dynamic range corresponding to 4096
grey-scale levels. The total time per line (including readout and sample move-
ment) is in this case about 120 milliseconds, which means that a 200 mm drill
437
core will be analysed within 1000 seconds generating a microradiographic image
of 16.4 MB.
Flux density consideration. The atbeam collimator and slit system are designed
in such a way that the size of the penumbra will be smaller than a pixel in the
diode array, i.e., 25 lm. The distance between the sample and the diode array is
chosen to be 10 mm (from the centre of the sample) in order to allow for samples
with varying thickness. This gives a distance between source and sample of about
200 mm. For a Cu tube the brilliance of characteristic radiation (Cu
ka
at 45 kV is
estimated to be 2.1 10
11
photons/s (Gilfrich 1974). Thus, the photon ux per
pixel (without any sample) will be
I = B DX I (1)
where I is the photon ux (photons per seconds), B is the brilliance, DW is the
solid angle represented by a single pixel in the diode array and i is the tube
current. The intensity will be about 1.5 10
6
photons per second per pixel. Thus
during, e.g. 20 milliseconds, about 3000 characteristic x-ray photons will impact
on each individual pixel. Together with the bremsstrahlung contribution the total
number will be more than 4000 photons. Owing to air absorption and optical
misalignment, etc., the real ux will be slightly less.
Detection efciency. The detector selected for recording the transmitted radia-
tion is a MOS linear image sensor type S3904 from Hamamatsu. The sensor
Fig. 1. A schematic drawing describing the main features of the at beam micro-
radiographic recording. From above (top) and from the side (below)
438
consists of an array of 1024 photodiodes of size 25 25 lm. The sensor operates
in direct mode, i.e., the x-rays are directly impacted on the diode and the readout
current is directly related to the number of electron ) hole pairs generated when
the x-ray photons are attenuated in the semiconductor device. The sensor is
driven by a multichannel detector head (C4350 Hamamatsu) incorporating a low
noise driver/amplier and high-efciency thermo-electric cooling module for
reducing the dark current.
For a Cu
ka
photon (8040 eV) the number of electron hole pairs created is
about 2230 (3.6 eV/electron hole pairs), which corresponds to 3.6 10
)16
C.
The dark current for this kind of device is 0.1 pA, corresponding to a charge
of 2 10
)15
C during 20 milliseconds (exposure time for fast scans) which
equals 12 500 electrons. Regarding the number of dark current electrons as
a Poisson distributed stochastic variable, the standard deviation would be
s =

12500
_
= 112 electrons. Thus the stochastic variation is small compared with
the number of electrons generated by a single x-ray photon. This means that the
device is a single photon counting device. With a photon ux of 4000 photons per
element and 20 milliseconds, the dynamic range is fully utilised. The saturation
charge is 20 pA, which corresponds to about 56000 x-ray photons of 8 keV energy
(Cu
ka
).
Contrast considerations. The density variation will generate a variation in the
radiographic image due to the variation in the transmitted intensity. This vari-
ation is determined by the attenuation in the sample, which is related to the mass
attenuation coefcient, density and sample thickness. According to Beer's law the
photon ux transmitted through a sample can be written
N = N
0
e
lqd
(2)
where N is the transmitted photon ux, N
0
is the primary ux, l is the mass
attenuation coefcient, q is the density and d is the sample thickness. Thus, a
small variation in density, assuming a xed mass attenuation coefcient and
sample thickness, will give rise to a corresponding variation in the transmitted
radiation as;
N
/
= N
0
e
l(qDq)d
= N e
lDqd
(3)
If we assume that a linear expansion is reasonable then we can write the
difference in transmitted ux as:
DN = N N
/
= N
0
e
lqd
(1 e
lDqd
) ~ N lDqd =
DN
N
= lDqd (4)
Assuming that N is a Poisson distributed stochastic variable then the smallest
detectable difference in transmitted radiation can be put equal to the standard
deviation of N which is equal to

N
_
thus:
DN
N

min
=
1

N
_ = lDqd = lqd
Dq
q

min
=
Dq
q

min
=
1

N
_
lqd
=
e
lqd
2
lqd

N
0
_
(5)
439
As can be seen, the relative variation (Dq/q) is a function of primary intensity
and sample thickness (d). The maximum value is achieved by selecting;
d =
2
lq
=
Dq
q
min
=
e
2

N
0
_ (6)
If we assume an average density of 0.6 g/cm
3
for wood, and a mass attenuation
coefcient of 7.08 cm
2
/g (Robinson 1974), we can calculate the optimal thickness
to be 4.7 mm. By using the photon ux per pixel calculated above we can estimate
the accuracy of the density measurements at a pixel level to be about 2% for a 20
milliseconds exposure when the product of sample thickness and density is
between about 840 and 8000 kg/m
2
(N
0
= 4000).
Resolution considerations. Another important aspect of micro-radiography is
the ability to identify small structures within the sample that are characterised by
a signicant deviation in density, e.g. resin canals in wood. The presence of these
structures in the sample will constitute a small local variation in density
depending on their size and density difference with the surrounding material.
Assuming that such a structure has a typical size, x, Eqn. 6 gives:
DN
N
min
=

I x
2
_
I x
2
=
1
x

I
_ = lqd
Dq
q
(7)
where I is the ux density (photon ux per unit area), x is the typical dimension
of the structure and Dq is the density difference generated by the presence of the
structure in the sample. Then Dq/q can be written:
Dq
q
=
x q
struc:
q
sur:
( )
d q
sur:
(8)
where q
sur.
is the density of the surrounding material and q
struc.
is the density of
the structure itself. Putting Eqn. 7 into Eqn. 8 we obtain:
x
2
=
1

I
_
l (q
struc:
q
sur:
)
(9)
Assuming that the structure has a density equal to that of air and is surrounded
by normal wood and further that the intensity and attenuation are the same as
used above, we can calculate x to be 36 lm. This means that structures with a
typical size of about 30 lm embedded in a solid piece of wood should be visible in
the radiograph.
Data evaluation. The radiographic image data are read and presented in dif-
ferent modes. In principle a drill core of wood is supposed to represent a
straight radial cut of the tree. However, upon drying the drill core will bend and
kink. In the raw data image this distortion is clearly visible. Apart from the drill
core, the only visible object is the metal rod to which the drill core is attached.
The rest of the image is blank. When the software reads the raw data, each line
or cross-section is analysed separately. A typical radiographic cross-section
consists of a blank offset level (representing no sample), the U-shaped section
440
representing the drill core and the black section (zero signal) representing the
metal rod (Fig. 2).
To correct for any heterogeneity in the beam and in the recording device, every
cross-section intensity prole is divided by a blank prole recorded by the
scanner just before the onset of the scan. Although blanks are recorded for each
sample, the absolute photon ux can still vary during the scan. There is a fast
variation due to the rectied AC power supply but also a slower power variation.
These types of variation are corrected for by normalising each cross-section
prole to the blank part of the signal. The U-shaped part of the signal, repre-
senting the attenuation prole of the drill core, is also analysed in terms of radius
and position. The radius is determined by using the intercepts of the drill core
prole with a predened threshold level (Fig. 2), and the position is dened as the
mid point between the two intercept points. If the drill core is very close to the
metal rod, it might be that there is no intercept at that point. In that case the
intercept lies on the outer edge of the metal rod (away from the sample) and the
actual position is then determined by subtracting the thickness of the rod from
the intercept value.
Measurements from all cross-sections are put together into a new image in
such a way that the central positions of all cross-sections are aligned. In this way
the drill core appears straight and any curve which runs perpendicular to all
cross-sections will appear straight in the new image. The total core volume is also
calculated.
After the corrected image is presented on the screen, the operator can select
any line along the drill core to study the density prole. The software can process
data from both cylindrical and rectangular cross-sections. In normal mode the
software assumes that the cross-sections are cylindrical and thus corrects for the
varying sample thickness encountered by rays passing through the drillcore. The
thickness is calculated from the distance between the line selected and the center
position from simple geometry (Fig. 3).
Fig. 2. A typical radiographic cross-section from a tree drill core with a diameter of 4 mm.
The U- shaped structure centred at channel 650 represents the drill core and the sharp cut
on its right side, centred around channel 800, represents the metal rod to which the drill core
is attached. The rest of the curve is the at background representing the blank signal
441
The distance d, taking the beam divergence into account, is given by
d = 2a

1
ab
R

2
1

1
ab
r

2
1
v
u
u
t
(10)
If a+b R, this can be approximated by
d ~
2a
a b

R
2
r
2
_
: (11)
The radius R used for the calculation is the average projected radius from the
cross-section analysis. The density is calculated from Beer's law assuming a
constant thickness and a cellulose matrix. The rings appear as local maxima in the
density graphs and ``ring nder'' software is used to identify and mark all rings
found. The average density for each ring is calculated and presented in graphical
form together with the geometrical distance of each ring. The software is also
equipped with a deconvolution option, which can be used for correcting the
density proles whenever the ring-planes are not parallel with the primary beam
(not tested in this work).
Experimental
Material and general conditions for x-ray densitometry. Drill cores were taken
from 10 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and 10 Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.)
Karst.) trees at Svartberget Experimental Forest in Vindeln, Sweden (Lat 64 14
21'N, Long 19 47 6'E, 175 m a s l). This area is located in the cold temperate
humid climate type according to the Koppen climate classication system, with
an average annual temperature of +1.0 C (19701996) and annual precipitation
Fig. 3. A schematic representation of the geometry and the geometrical parameters used
for calculating the thickness d versus the radial distance r between the line selected and the
projected center of the cylindrical cross-section
442
close to 600 mm (19811997). Half of the trees were approximately 30 years old
and the other half were 60 years and older. Three samples, ca. 100 mm long, were
taken from each tree at breast height, two 12 mm drill cores and one 5 mm drill
core. The sampling procedure resulted in cores from the young trees consisting
mainly of sapwood and cores from the older trees consisting mainly of heart-
wood. Samples from both species were used in all tests.
The Woodtrax-measurements were made in batches with 20 samples in each
batch. The density analyses were made in two ways. For intact drill cores, the
density software was used while for prepared rectangular samples the average
attenuation was calculated for the entire specimen, i.e., the x-ray image of the
samples. Samples were prepared to a rectangular shape with a range of constant
thickness using a twin blade mechanical saw. The air humidity in the Woodtrax
was kept low, using an adsorption air-drier, to ensure low variation in wood
moisture content. The humidity was always below 30% RH with typical values in
the range 515% RH.
In case of extraction, a 9:1 mixture of acetone and water was used, in which the
samples were submerged for 72 hours. The inuence of extractives on green
(moisture saturated) volume was determined by measuring the water displace-
ment on 10 intact drill cores before and after extraction.
Test 1. Effect of sample thickness, ber direction and x-ray intensity
on x-ray attenuation
To evaluate effects of sample thickness, the 12 mm drill cores were cut to a
rectangular shape and a range of different thickness. The twenty core samples
were rst extracted and sawn to approximately 8 8 mm in the tangential and
longitudinal directions. The thickness in each direction was measured with a dial
indicator and x-ray absorption was measured in both directions for each sample.
Mass attenuation coefcients (cm
2
g
)1
) were calculated by dividing the absor-
bance by sample thickness, in the direction of measurement, and by sample
density. Density was calculated from oven-dry (1030 C, 16 h) weight and volume.
The samples were cooled in a desiccator before measurement. Width and thick-
ness were measured with a dial indicator and length with a calliper. All Woodtrax
measurements were performed twice on each batch, i.e., a second batch mea-
surement of the 20 samples was done directly after the rst. This procedure was
repeated after sawing to 5 5 and 4 2 mm, respectively. In the last sawing half
of the samples were sawn to 2 mm thickness in the tangential direction and the
other half to 2 mm in longitudinal direction. For this preparation attenuation
measurements were made only in the direction of 2 mm thickness.
The standard set of x-ray intensity, 40 kV and 35 mA (1.4 kW), was compared
to 45 kV and 40 mA (1.8 kW), and to 35 kV and 30 mA (1.1 kW). This was done
for each thickness of rectangular specimens with the x-ray beam parallel to the
ber direction and with duplicate measurements as above.
The inuence of sample/ber direction was evaluated on intact drill cores. This
was done by rst measuring the attenuationin20 samples with the x-ray beaminthe
ber directionandthenrepeating this withthe x-ray beamperpendicular tothe ber
direction. The x-ray images fromthe Woodtrax were then analysed with the density
software to calculate mean density. The measurements were performed twice.
Test 2. Comparison between different methods of density measurement
The intact drill core method, using the density software and either centred (de-
fault) sample position or random position, was compared with the rectangular
443
sample method using samples with a range of thickness, i.e., 2, 5 and 8 mm. The
Woodtrax measurements were made in the ber direction with the standard x-ray
intensity settings described above. After a rst analysis with two machine runs,
the samples (intact drill cores or rectangular specimens) were turned 180 about
their long axes and remeasured twice. This was done to evaluate the effect of
mounting orientation. The x-ray images from the intact drill cores were analysed
with the densitometry software to get the mean density in two different ways. The
rst, for which the default position was used, gave a density prole for a line along
the central axis of the whole sample. The second option gave a density prole
along a randomly positioned line within 1 mm of the central axis. The x-ray
images from rectangular samples were processed by dividing the integrated
attenuation by the sample thickness to give attenuation per cm (cm
)1
).
For the intact drill cores the basic density was calculated from measurements
of water displacement and dry-weight, while the densities for squared samples
were calculated from dry-weight and volume, measured as described above. These
density measurements were used for calibration.
Test 3. Inuence of extractives on measurements of sample volume,
density and x-ray mass attenuation coefcient
For these measurements a 12 mm drill core from each tree was used. Ten intact
core samples were sawn to 4 4 mm and another 10 samples to 8 8 mm. After
the Woodtrax analyses, mass attenuation coefcient was calculated by dividing
the mean absorbance by thickness and density (as described above for rectan-
gular samples). All measurements were done before and after extraction. The
Woodtrax measurements were performed as ten consecutive runs, both before
and after extraction. All samples were measured in each run. Percentage changes
in volume, weight and density, due to extraction, were calculated for each
sample.
Statistical analysis
General
Data were tested for homogeneity of variances (Levene's statistic) and analysis of
variance (univariate GLM, nested models or simple factorial) was performed
using SPSS 7.5/10 for Windows (Anon. 1996). Machine run, mounting and in-
dividual tree were set as random factors. Other factors were xed. When signif-
icant treatment effects were found, the Tukey post-hoc test or, in case of
inhomogeneity of variances, Dunnett T3 was used to test differences (p 0.05)
between treatments.
Test 1. Three variance analyses were made with different models for testing
effects of: (i) rectangular sample thickness and x-ray intensity, measured only in
the ber direction, (ii) ber direction for samples with square cross-section
(8 8 and 5 5 mm) at standard x-ray intensity (1.4 kW), and (iii) ber di-
rection for intact drill cores.
Test 2. The radiographic density measurements were calibrated to manual
gravimetric measurements through linear regression using SPSS. A calibration
coefcient was thus calculated for each measurement method and wood type.
Subsequently the deviation in percent between calibrated radiographic and
gravimetric measurements was calculated. The deviations were used as an esti-
mation of the precision in measurements, i.e., low deviation means high preci-
444
sion. The deviations were then used in a variance analysis carried out as described
above with a model including all methods.
Test 3. For each type of measurement (volume, weight and density) a variance
analysis was made to test effects of wood type and sample thickness (4 and
8 mm). Dunnet's multi-comparison test against a control was also used. For
comparison of mass attenuation coefcients, a separate analysis of variance was
made using nested univariate GLM as above.
Results
The sample thickness had a major inuence on the variation in attenuation per
cm. As expected, most of the variation was explained by the difference between 2
and 5 mm of thickness (Table 1, 2, 3).
There were also high variations in attenuation for different wood types. The
mass attenuation coefcient decreased in the order of old spruce, young spruce,
old pine and young pine. The variation between machine runs was signicant but
very small, ca 0.4% of the average mass attenuation coefcient for all effect levels
and only ca 0.2% of the value for the standard power level (1.4 kW) used. There
was an increase in variation between machine runs with increasing tube power.
Fiber direction (x-ray beam parallel or perpendicular to ber direction) af-
fected mass attenuation coefcient and density measurements (Tables 3, 4, 5, 6).
For intact drill cores the perpendicular direction gave a 15% lower density than
the parallel ber direction.
The precision, measured as absolute deviation in percent for calibrated ra-
diographic measurements from gravimetric values, was mainly affected by the
measurement method (Tables 7, 8), however the individual variations were large.
A slightly higher precision (lower mean deviation) was achieved for prepared
rectangular samples (average ca 1.0%) than for intact drill cores (ca 1.6%, centred
Table 1. Analysis of variance. Effects of wood type, specimen thickness, x-ray effect and
machine run on the mass attenuation coefcient (cm
2
g
)1
) measured on rectangular
specimen. Ts: Thickness of sample, Wt: Wood type, Mr: Machine run, Eff.: Effect of x-ray
tube, Tree: replication of cores, i.e., from different trees, df: degrees of freedom, F: F-value,
P: p-value. Random factors are given in italics
Source of variation df Percent of total
sum of squares
Mean
square
F P
Ts 2 75.5 6.2973 277.08 0.000
Wt 3 4.6 0.2579 3.07 0.058
Ts*Wt 6 0.3 0.0094 0.77 0.602
Mr (Ts Eff.) 9 0.6 0.0107 32.08 0.000
Wt*Mr(Ts Eff.) 27 0.1 0.0003 1.37 0.123
Tree (Wt) 16 8.1 0.0840 6.37 0.000
Ts*Tree(Wt) 32 2.3 0.0122 1.23 0.240
Eff. 2 0.7 0.0613 2.86 0.074
Ts*Eff. 4 0.6 0.0242 1.18 0.339
Wt*Eff. 6 0.4 0.0101 0.92 0.497
Ts*Wt*Eff. 12 0.7 0.0094 0.93 0.519
Eff.*Tree(Wt) 32 2.1 0.0109 1.10 0.370
Ts*Eff.*Tree(Wt) 64 3.8 0.0100 40.78 0.000
Error 144 0.2 0.0002
Total 359 100.0
(16.6820)
445
line). The highest precision was achieved for 5 mm rectangular samples
(ca 0.85%) and especially for young pine.
After extraction both volume and weight were signicantly reduced for all
wood types (ca 1.8% and 3.8%, respectively), but for density measurements only
pine showed a signicant reduction (Tables 9, 10, 11). The mass attenuation
coefcient, as related to wood type in general, was not signicantly affected by
Table 2. Mass attenuation coefcient (cm
2
g
)1
) for rectangular specimen as affected by
x-ray tube effect, wood type, thickness of specimen and machine run. Values with different
letters are signicantly different (p 0.05; Tukey)
Effect Wood type Thickness of specimen Diff. between
machine runs
2 5 8 Average
1.1 Old spruce 6.56 6.24 6.22 6.34
Young spruce 6.59 6.20 6.14 6.31
Old pine 6.56 6.16 6.11 6.28
Young pine 6.53 6.12 6.06 6.24
Average 6.56 6.18 6.13 6.29 0.008 (0.12%) a
1.4 (Stand.) Old spruce 6.48 6.23 6.17 6.29
Young spruce 6.52 6.20 6.10 6.27
Old pine 6.49 6.14 6.05 6.23
Young pine 6.47 6.11 6.01 6.19
Average 6.49 6.17 6.08 6.25 0.014 (0.23%) a
1.8 Old spruce 6.68 6.20 6.21 6.36
Young spruce 6.53 6.16 6.14 6.27
Old pine 6.51 6.11 6.08 6.23
Young pine 6.46 6.07 6.05 6.19
Average 6.54 6.13 6.12 6.26 0.051 (0.82%) b
Average 6.53 6.16 6.11 6.27 0.024 (0.39%)
a b c
Table 3. Analysis of variance. Effects of ber direction on the mass attenuation coefcient
(cm
2
g
)1
) measured on rectangular specimen. For denitions, see Table 1
Source of variation df Percent of total
sum of squares
Mean
square
F P
Ts 1 27.5 0.4448 215.28 0.000
Wt 3 25.1 0.1357 3.61 0.036
Ts*Wt 3 0.4 0.0023 1.76 0.194
Mr (Ts Fd.) 4 0.2 0.0009 6.41 0.005
Wt*Mr(Ts Fd) 12 0.1 0.0001 1.40 0.190
Tree (Wt) 16 37.1 0.0375 13.67 0.000
Ts*Tree(Wt) 16 1.3 0.0013 0.74 0.726
Fd 1 2.3 0.0369 9.26 0.007
Ts*Fd 1 0.5 0.0077 3.05 0.099
Wt*Fd 3 0.2 0.0009 0.28 0.838
Ts*Wt*Fd 3 0.0 0.0003 0.15 0.930
Fd*Tree(Wt) 16 3.2 0.0032 1.83 0.118
Ts*Fd*Tree(Wt) 16 1.7 0.0017 17.88 0.000
Error 64 0.4 0.0001
Total 159 100.0
(1.6183)
446
extraction. However, for individual trees there was an effect of extraction.
Comparing wood types, pine decreased more in weight and density than did
spruce. Comparing different thickness, 8 mm samples shrank less than did 4 mm
samples and thereby decreased more in density. Extraction also caused a minor
decrease in volume (0.46 %) for moisture-saturated samples.
Table 4. Mass attenuation coefcient (cm
2
g
)1
) for rectangular specimens as affected by
wood type and ber direction
Thickness Wood type Fiber direction
0 90 Average
5 Old spruce 6.23 6.27 6.25
Young spruce 6.20 6.23 6.21
Old pine 6.14 6.20 6.17
Young pine 6.11 6.16 6.14
Average 6.17 6.22 6.19
8 Old spruce 6.17 6.17 6.17
Young spruce 6.10 6.11 6.10
Old pine 6.05 6.08 6.06
Young pine 6.01 6.02 6.01
Average 6.08 6.10 6.09
Average 6.13 6.16 6.14
Table 5. Analysis of variance. Effect of ber direction on measured density (g cm
)3
) of
intact drill cores. For denitions, see Table 1
Source
of variation
df Percent of total
sum of squares
Mean
square
F P
Fd 1 49.0 0.0821 456.36 0.000
Wt 3 26.3 0.0147 5.95 0.006
Fd*Wt 3 0.2 0.0001 1.27 0.319
Tree(Wt) 16 23.6 0.0025 30.04 0.000
Fd*Tree(Wt) 16 0.8 0.0001 30.98 0.000
Mr(Fd) 2 0.1 0.0001 52.17 0.000
Wt*Mr(Fd) 6 0.0 0.0000 0.72 0.634
Error 32 0.1 0.0000
Total 79 100.0
Table 6. Density (g cm
)3
) for intact drill cores as affected by wood type, ber direction and
machine run. Values with different letters are signicantly different (p 0.05)
Wood type Fiber direction Diff. between
machine runs
0 90 Average (per cent of mean)
Old spruce 0.397 0.336 0.367 d
Young spruce 0.420 0.359 0.389 c
Old pine 0.456 0.390 0.423 a
Young pine 0.456 0.386 0.421 b
Average 0.432 0.368 0.400 0.003 (0.77%)
447
Table 7. Analysis of variance. Effects of measurement method (Mm), wood type, re-
mounting (Rm), replication of cores, i.e., from different trees and machine run on mea-
surement precision (deviations in percent from calibration measurements). For denitions,
see Table 1
Source of
variation
df Percent of total
sum of squares
Mean
square
F P
Mm 4 11.2 10.5898 6.23 0.001
Wt 3 1.7 2.0910 0.66 0.588
Mm*Wt 12 9.1 2.8895 1.52 0.148
Rm(Mm) 5 0.5 0.3543 0.54 0.745
Wt*Rm(Mm) 15 2.2 0.5501 5.37 0.000
Mr(Rm Mm) 10 0.6 0.2101 2.05 0.063
Wt*Mr(Rm Mm) 30 0.8 0.1024 0.21 1.000
Tree(Wt) 16 13.1 3.0950 1.70 0.070
Mm*Tree(Wt) 64 30.8 1.8235 3.82 0.000
Error 240 30.2 0.4772
Total 399 100.0
(379.3)
Table 8. Precision, i.e., mean deviations in percent from calibration measurements for
different measurement methods and wood type. Values with different letters are sig-
nicantly different (p 0.05)
Wood type Measurement method
Intact drill core Rectangular specimen (mm)
Random Centred 2 5 8 Average
Old spruce 1.26 1.03 1.19 1.19 1.36 1.21
Young spruce 1.99 1.67 0.74 0.71 1.05 1.23
Old pine 1.25 1.22 1.07 0.90 0.78 1.05
Young pine 2.21 2.21 0.90 0.61 1.06 1.40
Average 1.68 1.53 0.97 0.85 1.06 1.22
a a b b b
Table 9. Analysis of variance. Effects from extraction (Ex), wood type, replication of cores,
i.e., from different trees and machine runs on the mass attenuation coefcient. For
denitions, see Table 1
Source of
variation
df Percent of total
sum of squares
Mean
square
F P
Wt 3 4.4 0.5081 0.31 0.817
Ex 1 0.0 0.0061 0.02 0.894
Wt*Ex 3 1.3 0.1503 1.98 0.157
Mr(Ex) 18 13.7 0.2625 213.57 0.000
Wt*Mr(Ex) 54 0.2 0.0012 0.97 0.536
Tree(Wt) 16 75.8 1.6369 21.58 0.000
Ex*Tree(Wt) 16 3.5 0.0758 59.92 0.000
Error 285 1.0 0.0013
Total 396 100.0
(34.5)
448
Discussion
Thickness was the most important factor affecting the mass attenuation coef-
cient of prepared samples. A signicant difference was observed between the
2 mm samples and the 5 and 8 mm samples. The difference is due to the
relatively higher attenuation of long wavelength (low energy) x-rays in wood,
Table 10. Analysis of variance. Inuence of sample thickness and wood type on the effect
of extraction on volume, weight and density. For denitions, see Table 1
Variable Source of
variation
df Percent of total
sum of squares
Mean
square
F P
Volume Ts 1 31.7 7.0795 10.96 0.006
Wt 3 29.2 2.1767 3.37 0.055
Ts*Wt 3 4.5 0.3318 0.51 0.681
Error 12 34.7 0.6461
Total 19 100.0
(22.4)
Weight Ts 1 0.3 0.2758 0.35 0.563
Wt 3 23.5 8.5583 10.96 0.001
Ts*Wt 3 67.7 24.7045 31.63 0.000
Error 12 8.6 0.7812
Total 19 100.0
(109.4)
Density Ts 1 6.5 9.9406 6.76 0.023
Wt 3 25.1 12.8576 8.74 0.002
Ts*Wt 3 57.0 29.2177 19.86 0.000
Error 12 11.5 1.4714
Total 19 100.0
(153.8)
Table 11. Effect of extraction on volume, weight and density measurements. Values are
difference in percent, for measurements before and after extraction. Values with different
letters are signicantly different (p 0.05)
Variable Wood type Specimen thickness (mm)
4 8 Average
Volume Old spruce )2.14 )1.59 )1.92 a
Young spruce )3.31 )2.10 )2.58 a
Old pine )2.66 )0.83 )1.56 a
Young pine )1.70 )0.43 )1.19 a
Average )2.35 a )1.28 b )1.81
Weight Old spruce )2.25 )1.84 )2.08 a
Young spruce )5.78 )1.16 )3.01 ab
Old pine )2.09 )8.44 )5.90 c
Young pine )4.18 )3.81 )4.03 b
Average )3.50 a )4.01 a )3.76
Density Old spruce )0.10 )0.25 )0.16 a
Young spruce )2.54 +0.97 )0.44 a
Old pine +0.58 )7.68 )4.37 b
Young pine )2.52 )3.38 )2.87 b
Average )1.18 a )2.74 b )1.96
449
resulting in a higher mass attenuation coefcient for thinner samples. There
should be a similar effect for density since the wavelength-related attenuation of
x-rays is determined by mass per unit area (the product of density and sample
thickness). However, in these measurements the between-sample variation in
density was low, i.e., the inuence was negligible. When measuring density on
samples with larger variation, for example within an annual ring, this effect
becomes more important. In such cases a calibration curve (non-linear) between
mass attenuation and mass per unit area should be used (cf. Rudman et al.
1969). Other factors affecting the mass attenuation coefcient were variation in
wood type and individual tree/sample variation. Some of these variations may
be caused by the variations in density as explained above, and/or by variations
in elemental composition. The effect of wood type can be reduced by making
separate calibrations for each type, however variation between and within in-
dividual samples will limit ultimate measurement precision. The individual
variation in mass attenuation coefcient contains both true variation between
trees or samples (elemental composition) and variation from errors in thickness
and density measurements. The variations from different machine runs were
small and can be avoided by using a standard sample with known density in
each batch measurement as a reference.
For intact drill cores the ber direction played a major role, which makes the
mounting of the samples very important, if the same calibration factor is to be
used for more than one sample. The dried intact drill cores being quite elliptical
instead of cylindrical in shape probably explains the big variation between
directions. The inuence of ber direction on prepared samples was signicant
but small. The measurements also indicate a higher inuence on 5 mm thick
samples compared to 8 mm. This is to be expected as Beer's law assumes
homogeneity. A thin sample of wood with the bers aligned parallel to the x-ray
beam direction is not to be considered homogeneous (cf. Moschler and Win-
istorfer 1990).
The calculated deviations from calibration measurements contain both errors
from the Woodtrax measurements (between machine runs and repeated mea-
surements) and individual variation between trees/samples. The variance ana-
lyses of these measurements indicate 5 mm samples having the highest
precision. This is in accordance with the theoretically calculated optimal
thickness mentioned earlier (4.7 mm). The difference in precision between in-
tact drill cores and rectangular samples should mainly be due to the density
software, having a slightly poorer precision in estimation of thickness of intact
drill cores, compared to measured thickness on rectangular samples. The use of
intact drill cores also gives sensitivity for the quality (roughness and straight-
ness) of the drill cores, which were considered to be very good for the cores
used in this investigation.
The extractives can give errors in the density measurements in two different
ways. The rst one is by affecting the volume and the weight in different pro-
portions and thereby affecting the true density. The second is by affecting the
mass attenuation coefcient and thereby affecting the density measured by x-ray
absorption. An unexpected effect from extraction was that 4 mm thick samples
shrank more than 8 mm thick samples. The density of the 4 mm thick samples
therefore decreased less on extraction. This effect is probably caused by a greater
tendency of the 8 mm samples to form checks during extraction, i.e., if the
samples develop small cracks, the density will be underestimated.
450
The result supports the standard recommendation that pine should be ex-
tracted (Kanowski and Wright 1985), since the true density is affected by the
extractives. For the spruce samples, neither the true average density, nor the
average mass attenuation coefcient was affected by extractives. However, as
there was considerable variability in response for individual spruce samples, it is
advisable to extract this species to achieve high precision.
Conclusions
The Woodtrax technique, of combining batch-wise atbeam x-ray scanning with
an array sensor, could be exploited to make x-ray microdensitometry more
efcient. The power level used as standard (1.4 kW; 40 kV and 35 mA) seems to
be appropriate for the tested species and specimen thickness. Density mea-
surements on intact drill cores could be done with at least a precision (mean
standard deviation) of 1.6% for each sample, with a single machine run, if the
core is mounted with a xed ber direction and calibrations are made for each
wood type. The corresponding precision for rectangular samples is 1.0%. Fur-
ther improvements are attainable by standard reference samples in each ma-
chine run. The batch-wise analysis is thus advantageous. Separate calibrations
may be needed for each wood type. Non-linear calibration/s between mass
attenuation and mass per unit area may be required if thickness and/or density
varies greatly. A sample thickness of 5 mm should give the best precision for
presented equipment and set-up. If high spatial resolution is needed, the effect
of angled or curved ring boundaries makes a thinner sample more useful for
species with very narrow rings. Extractives should be removed especially for
pine, but possibly also for spruce, to maximise the precision and accuracy of
density determination.
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