Temperature Effects on Glue Performance and Compressive Strength of Glue Laminated Funtumia Africana

The effect of varying temperatures was investigated on the integrity of glue line and compressive strength parallel to grain for glue laminated Funtumia Africana (Ire) timber laminated with polyvinyl acetate glue. The performance of the glue line was investigated over temperatures of 0oC, 30oC, 40 oC, 50oC, 70oC, and 100oC administered to test samples over a period of 4 hours. The strength values were computed at an average moisture content of 5.6%. A mean compressive strength of 34.4 N/mm2 was recorded at 0oC while a rise to 41.2N/mm2 was recorded for 30oC. However subsequent decreases in mean compressive strength were recorded with increasing temperature from 30 oC to 100 oC. The highest and least mean compressive strength of 41.2N/mm2 and 24.4N/mm2 was recorded at 30 and 100oC respectively. The failure modes were similar over the various temperatures except for a brittle failure of both glue line and timber recorded at 0 oC due to extremely low temperature