Gluing Techniques on Bond Performance and Mechanical Properties of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Made from Larix kaempferi

Abstract

Previous studies have proved that Larix kaempferi is a good material for preparing cross-laminated timber (CLT), but under bending shear stress, CLT made by Larix kaempferi is prone to the phenomenon of bonding face cracking, which seriously affects the shear performance of CLT. To solve this problem, this paper took Larix kaempferi as raw material, conducted experiments on the surface sanding conditions, gluing pressure and adhesive types of sawing timber, and explored the influence of these three factors on the bonding quality of CLT. The microscopic characteristics of the bonding layer were further studied. The results showed that for Larix kaempferi with a density of 0.68 g/cm3 used in this experiment, a high bonding pressure is required. Among the three cold curing adhesives selected in the experiment, emulsion polymer isocyanate (EPI) adhesive needs 1.5 MPa bonding pressure to ensure the bonding quality, while for polyurethane (PUR) and phenol resorcinol formaldehyde (PRF), 1.2 MPa can meet the need of adhesive pressure. This is concerned with the permeability of different adhesives under different pressures. The microscopic results of the bonding layer show that EPI adhesives have poor permeability, so it requires high bonding pressure. The influence of sanding surface of different sand-belt on block shear strength (BSS) and wood failure percentage (WFP) is not obvious, while the durability of bonding layer is better when sanding mesh number is 100. Hence, a high pressure should be used for CLT industrial production when the laminate density is higher, especially when the adhesive has poor permeability. Reasonable sanding surface treatment can be used in laminate surface treatment to improve the durability of CLT.