Bending and compressive properties of finger-jointed oil palm wood products

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate the effects of the length of finger-contacted surfaces and oil palm wood densities on bending and compressive properties in the case of finger-jointed oil palm wood products (FJOP). The FJOP were manufactured from oil palm wood raw materials of three different density ranges (303 kg/m3 ± 14 kg/m3, 381 kg/m3 ± 24 kg/m3, and 476 kg/m3 ± 21 kg/m3) using the same finger profile. Polyvinyl acetate was used for bonding. For each density range, FJOP were produced with three different lengths of the finger-contacted surfaces (6 mm, 8 mm, or 10 mm). The length of finger-contacted surfaces did not significantly affect the bending and compressive properties of FJOP for each density range. All examined properties of FJOP increased with oil palm wood density. However, most of the examined properties of FJOP were slightly lower compared with that of solid oil palm wood without the finger joint of the same density. In view of strength, FJOP especially at high density could be used for further processing of cross laminated timber as its original solid wood was used.