This study investigates the bending and bonding performances of glued laminated timber beams manufactured using a combination of Malaysian lower and higher- grade timber species. Two types of beams were prepared which were mono-species and mixed-species glulam. Mono-species glulam with uniform layup were fabricated using Merpauh, Jelutong and Sesendok. Mixed-species glulam with balanced layup were fabricated whereby Merpauh was positioned equally at the outer layers and either Jelutong or Sesendok were positioned at the inner layers. Three replicates of ten-layered glulam beams measuring 100 mm in width, 300 mm in depth and 6200 mm in length were manufactured according to MS758 for each mono and mixed-species glulam. Bending, delamination and block shear tests were done on all the glulam beams. The results show that glulam manufactured from the combination of Sesendok and Merpauh obtained the highest bending properties and structural efficiency. In addition, the bonding performance at the interface between Sesendok-Merpauh lamellas proved to be excellent.
The study reports on block shear investigations with bondlines of face-glued laminations and matched solid wood specimens from hardwood glulam (GLT) beams produced industrially from eight technically and stand volume-wise important species. The European hardwoods comprised oak, beech, sweet chestnut and ash and the tropical species were teak, keruing, melangangai and light red meranti. The adhesives were phenol-resorcinol and melamine-urea. When combining all species in one sample, a rather strong linear relationship of bond and wood shear strength was observed. The ratio of bond vs. wood shear strength was for all species on the mean value level = 0.9, and likewise (with one exception) for the respective strengths’ 5%-quantiles. Consistent with literature, the test results showed no significant correlations between bond shear strength and density, wood shear strength and wood failure percentage of individual species, respectively. The investigations render the methodological basics of some international standards on bond quality verification as being inappropriate. New, empirically validated hardwood GLT bond requirements are proposed for discussion and implementation at the CEN and ISO levels. The strength ratio specifications reflect respective ANSI provisions, yet the reference quantity wood shear strength is now determined in an unbiased manner from matched GLT specimens. The wood failure verification proposal is based on the 10%-quantile and mean level for initial type testing and factory production control. The requirements further account for the pronounced difference observed in scatter of wood failure between European and tropical species.
Fire Resistance Characteristics of Glued Laminated Timber Manufactured from Malaysian Tropical Hardwood Timber (Malagangai): Charring Rate and Fire Classification
This paper reports the investigation on the one-dimensional charring rate of glued laminated timber manufactured from Malaysian Tropical Hardwood namely Malagangai (density, 800 kg/m 3 ). The fire test was conducted at SP Wood Technology in Stockholm in accordance with EN 13381-7:2014 for determination of charring rate. The reaction-to-fire tests for fire classifications in terms of flame spread, smoke production and burning droplets were investigated at University of Stuttgart, Germany in accordance with the procedures given in EN 13 501-1 : 2010. The results show that the charring rate of glulam Malagangai is 0.6 mm/min. The fire behaviour of the glulam is in Class C with medium smoke generation and very little burning droplets.
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