SHEAR STRENGTH OF HEAT-TREATED SOLID WOOD BONDED WITH POLYVINYL-ACETATE REINFORCED BY NANOWOLLASTONITE
Hamid R. Taghiyari, Ayoub Esmailpour, Στέργιος Αδαμόπουλος, Kurosh Zereshki, Reza Hosseinpourpia
Abstract
This study investigated the shear strength of heat-treated solid wood of three species (beech, poplar, and fir) bonded with polyvinyl-acetate (PVA) adhesive reinforced by nanowollastonite (NW). Wood specimens were heat-treated at 165C and 185C, and then bonded using PVA reinforced by 5% and 10% of NW. Shear strength tests parallel to the grain of bonded specimens were performed according to ASTM D143-14 (2014). The results demonstrated that the shear strength was significantly dependent upon the density of the specimens. Heat treatment decreased the shear strength of the bonded specimens considerably. This was attributed to several factors, such as a reduction in polar groups in the cell wall, increased stiffness of the cell wall after heat treatment, and a reduction in the wettability of treated wood. However, NW acted as a reinforcement agent or extender in the complex, and eventually improved the shear bond strength. Moreover, the density functional theory (DFT) proved the bond formation between calcium atoms in the NW and hydroxyl groups of cell wall polymers. The overall results indicated the potential of NW to improve the bonding strength of heat-treated wood.