Effect of Humidity Conditions on Bending Creep Performance of Finger-Jointed Woods

To evaluate the durability of finger-jointed woods according to change of humidity conditions, four types of finger-jointed woods glued with different kinds of adhesives and finger pitches were made with Sitka spruce, and the effect of humidity conditions on creep performances was investigated. The shape of creep curves differed among humidity conditions, and the inclination of creep curves was greatest in 85%RH, and lowest in 65%RH. Their creep curves showed a linear behavior beyond approximately one hour, regardless of humidity conditions. The A values of the creep curves fitted to power law increased with increasing relative humidity, whereas the A' values were in order of 30 > 85 > 65%RH unlike the A values. The initial deformation increased with increasing relative humidity, whereas the creep deformation unlike the initial deformation was in order of 85 > 30 > 65%RH, and it was found that the creep deformation of finger-jointed woods indicated the smaller amount in air-dry moisture content rather than in a low moisture content less than 30%RH. Finger-jointed woods with 6.8 mm (L) pitch had the greater creep amount than in those with 4.4 mm (S) pitch in all humidity conditions. The difference of creep amount between both adhesives in all humidity conditions was small. Relative creep at 240 hr was greatest as 62.2~71.9% in 85%RH, and the values indicated 2.1~2.6 times that of 30%RH and 3.0~3.6 times that of 65%RH and were equal or slightly greater than that of solid spruce.