Shear Strength of Glued Joints with some Indian Timbers

Mechanical fastening devices have definite limits imposed by their sizes, design and economy in timber construction. Glued timber structures offer higher efficiency, wider choice with freedom of shape to the architects. Long-term economy in the utilization of small dimensioned stocks of timber is an added advantage. As pre-requisite, to the design of glued timber structures, it is essential to establish data on the behaviour of common glues i.e. Urea formaldehyde and Phenol formaldehyde resins, strength of glue line involved with representative species both hard and soft-woods. Studies on block shear tests for dry and boiled conditions on lapped specimens have been conducted selecting 30 species of timbers belonging to three standard groups to evaluate the necessary parameters. In this paper, details of the experimental procedure, test results and analysis have been presented with recommendations for glued timber units.