Undergraduate lessons – Compulsory courses
1. Harvesting of Forest Products
Equipment, forest operations, wood harvesting systems, forest ergonomics. Organisation and planning of forest operations. Wood assortments, grading and extraction of wood products.
2. Wood structure and properties
Physical and macroscopic characteristics, identification of wood. Microscopic structure, chemical composition and infrastructure of wood. Mechanism of wood formation. Variation and abnormalities of wood structure. Density, hygroscopicity, shrinkage and swelling of wood. Mechanical, thermal, electrical and accoustic properties. Natural durability of wood.
Undergraduate lessons – Elective courses
1. Forest Ergonomics
Human-Labour/Work/Operation – Ergonomics Work Science. Fundamental terms of structuring work systems. Elements of work physiology. Factors of the working environment. Design and formation of work systems. Work temporal studies. Remuneration of forest operations. Work psychology and sociology. Operational safety and accident prevention. Organisation of forest operations in Greece.
2. Wood identification
Characteristics of wood, methods and techniques of macroscopic and microscopic identification.
3. European and tropical timbers
Relations between structure, properties and uses of various timbers. Structure, properties bahaviour and utilization potentials of the most important greek, european and tropical woods. Relations between special characteristics of each wood species and suitability for certain uses.
4. Wood quality
Meaning of the term “wood quality”. Natural and growth defects and their relations to quantity and utilisation of wood. Influences of environment, silvicultural and harvesting practices, management forest type and heredity on quality of the wood produced in the forest. Secondary defects developed after harvesting of trees and during wood processing and uses (category of defects, causes, preventive measures). Anatomical features, deviations from normal structure and their relations to quality, properties and industrial utilisation of wood.