Effect of Adhesives and Finger Pitches on Bending Creep Performances of Finger-Jointed Woods

Following our previous reports for finger-jointed woods with various finger profiles studied for the efficient use of small diameter logs and woods containing various defects, twelve types of finger-jointed woods glued with three kinds of adhesives and with two sizes of finger pitches were made with sitka spruce and red pine. The effects of the adhesives and finger pitches on bending creep performances of finger-jointed woods were investigated. The shape of creep curves differed among the used adhesives and finger pitches of finger-jointed woods for both tested species. Their creep curves showed a linear behavior beyond about one hour, and the N values fitted to power law increased with increasing finger pitches. The initial deformation increased with increasing finger pitches, regardless of the tested species and kinds of adhesives, whereas the effect of finger pitches on the creep deformation was not clear. For finger-jointed woods glued with polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) resin, creep failure occurred in 106 hours after the load was applied. And the difference of the creep compliance between finger-jointed woods glued with resorcinol-phenol formaldehyde (RPF) resin and aqueous vinyl urethane (AVU) resin was small. The ratios for creep performances of finger-jointed woods glued with RPF resin and AVU resin versus solid wood were higher in creep deformation than initial deformation for both species, and the difference between both adhesives was not found. The relative creep decreased with increasing finger pitches, and the marked differences was not found between RPF resin and AVU resin.