Effects of freeze-thaw cycles on physical and mechanical properties of glulam exposed to outdoor environment

This paper presents an experimental investigation to identify suitable indices to assess durability of glulam when subjected to freeze-thaw cycles in an exposed enviroenment. In this study, two types of glulam specimens were tested for their performance when subjected to different levels of aging due to freezing and thawing. Effect of aging treatment on various parameters including thickness swelling rate, static bending strength, elastic modulus, shear strength, and peeling rate of adhesive layer were studied. Obtained results showed that freeze-thaw aging treatment did not affect the water-resistance of the specimens as measured by thickness swelling rate and had little effect on the dimensional stability of the material. However, the applied aging treatment weakened the bending resistance of the glulam specimens with more pronounced effects on on low-density wood. On the other hand, bond strength of high-density wood was relatively more affected due to the appliedfreeze-thaw cycles. For high-density wood, it is suggested that the shear strength of the adhesive layer be taken as an important index to determine the durability of freeze-thaw cycles aging. For low-density wood, on the other hand, the static bending strength can be used as an index to determine the durability of glulam under freeze-thaw cycles aging.