The behavior of horizontally glued laminated beams using rubber wood

• Evaluated the flexural properties of solid rubber wood and laminated rubber wood.
• If laminated wood could be suggested as a replacement to the solid wood.
• Evaluated laminated wood flexural properties with different lamina thickness and jointed lamina.
• Evaluated joint efficiency, wood adhesive bond strength, durability of the adhesive bond.
• Rubber wood is found suitable for laminated and structural wood products.

The process of manufacturing engineered wood products (EWP) is an effective technique for reducing or eliminating the negative properties of solid wood materials and for obtaining high performance materials. However, there is a dearth of information regarding the studies in glued laminated timber, one among the EWP, in India. Thus, this paper describes an experimental program which examines the flexural properties of horizontally glued laminated timber utilizing rubber wood, a sustainable, plantation grown timber in the country. The experimental test program involved the fabrication and testing in flexure of horizontally glued laminated rubber wood using polyvinyl acetate adhesive, with different lamina thickness and jointed laminas. The study also evaluated the joint efficiency, wood adhesive bond strength and the durability of the adhesive bond. The test results obtained show that the comparison of flexural properties between solid wood and horizontally glued laminated wood have no significant difference. Lamina thickness does not make any statistically significant difference in the flexural properties. Laminated beam and jointed laminated beam with the same lamina thickness have no significant difference in the flexural properties. The wood adhesive bond strength and the wood failure percentage obtained are appreciable. The experimental results obtained and a comparison with code provisions verifies the suitability of the wood species for composite products.