CICE 2010 - The 5th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering

September 27-29, 2010 Beijing, China

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN ON MULTI LAYERS OF LVL FIBER

REINFORCED WOOD COMPOSITE USING BAGASSE AS CORE
STRUCTURE
Meekum U. (umsut@g.sut.ac.th)
School of Polymer Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakorn Ratchasima, Thailand

ABSTRACT: The multi layers of laminated veneer lumber(LVL) fiber reinforced wood composite were con-
structed. It was comprised of peeled rubber and eucalyptus woods sheet obtained from commercial forest.
Epoxy and vinyl ester cured bagasse were used as core and the fiber glass woven as reinforcement. Those
constituents were alternately laid and bonded with epoxy and vinyl ester resins and compression molded. The
2k experimental design method was applied to study the effect of those parameters on the mechanical proper-
ties by mean of flexural properties It was found that, within the statistical result, there is no significant effect
of those parameters on the flexural properties of the LVL. It would be contributed from the less brittle ba-
gasse core. Then, the over all strength would not be enhanced and no contribution from the other strong con-
stituents.

1 INTRODUCTION hesives such as poly(vinyl acetate)(PVAc) is also

As global worming is concerned, wood is one of the
precious natural resources. It is not only the most
effective CO2 scavenger but also the most important
raw materials for many of industries such as
building construction. There are several engineering
materials to substitute this resource but they are still
incompletely satisfactory, especially in the sense of
artistically. There are several common ways to
manipulate the materials to substitute the natural
wood including wood polymer composite(WPC) and
engineered wood. The later is normally called man
made wood. They are usually derived from pieces of
fast grow wood and manufactured into stronger ones
by mean of engineering composite methods.
The examples of engineered wood are plywood, ori-
ented stand wood(OSW), glulam, laminated veneer
lumber(LVL), etc. The LVL is produced by bonding
thick/thin wood veneer together into a larger billet.
The LVL billet then sawn into desired dimension.
The strength of the billet can increased by using fi-
ber reinforced materials such as fiber glass and car-
bon fiber. The maximum loading of the reinforced
wood also is depended on the adhesive used. Urea
and phenol formaldehyde are commonly and com-
mercially used. Colak and co-worker reported that
flexural strength of LVL obtained from spruce ve-
neers using phenol formaldehyde is prox. 98.4 MPa
[1]. The strength of beech and alder veneer was 100
to 79 MPa using melamine urea formaldehyde [2].
There is document published on glass fiber and car-
bon fiber reinforced timber beam. It was found that
carbon had shown more significant improve in flex-
ural strength than glass fiber [3]. Thermoplastic ad-
the most conventional one. This glue is less water
resistance.
In this work, the LVL derived from the multi layers
core sandwich-like structure were investigated. The
bagasse fiber from sugar cane factory was used as
cores. Epoxy and vinyl ester resins are used as adhe-
sives. Rubber and eucalyptus peeled sheet were used
and fiber glass woven was exploited as reinforced
materials. The results of parameters that effect to the
strength of the LVL beam were analyzed by design
of experiment(DOE) method.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
2.1 Materials
The main materials used in this study can be classi-
fied into 4 categories; (i) the wood veneers, (ii) the
fiber reinforced materials, (iii) bagasse fiber and (vi)
adhesives. Wood veneers; rubber and eucalyptus,
were peeled at thickness of approx. 2.5 mm. The
young teak veneer, approx. 15 yrs, was sliced at the
thickness of 0.5 mm. The moisture of woods was
controlled at around 6-14% by drying in oven at
105oC. The woven E-glass with the areal density of
821 g/m2 was employed. The bagasse fiber was pre-
pared by soaking in 0.5%(w/v) NaOH solution over
night, autoclaving for 4 hours and crushed in non-
intermeshing twin screw extruder. The fiber that
passed thru the twin screw 2 times was classified as
long fiber. The fiber thru the screw 4 times resulted
in shorted L/D ratio and was called as short fiber.
The room temperature amine cure epoxy system and
vinyl ester resin were used. The bisphenol A epoxy
was formulated in house. Vinyl ester resin was pur-
7 6(+60) 7(+70) 2(-20)
chased from Thai Mitsui Co. Ltd. All chemical for
adhesives were commercial grade and used as re- 8 7(+70) 6(+60) 7(+70)
ceived.
2.4 Material Testing
The bagasse core was prepared by thoroughly mix-
ing the fiber with the given adhesive using mechani- Flexural testing by mean of three point bending was
cal mixer. The sticky pulp was then smoothly spread conducted according to ASTM 790. The 50 kN load
in the rectangular compression mold and pressed at cell InstronTM 5569 were employed. The span length
10 psi and 120oC for 30 mins. 250x250x2 mm sheet of 100 mm was resumed and displacement speed of
was obtained and then cut into required dimension. 5.5 mm/min was electronically controlled. Six
specimen were tested. The average values were re-
ported.
2.2 Multi Layers LVL Core Sandwich Preparation
Ten layers of peeled wood sheets, bagasse cores and
glass woven were gathered for manufacturing the 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
LVL composite specimen. The teak veneers were
laminated on both faces of the sample. The layers Flexural properties of the LVL derived from the
were alternately stacked and bonded using the as- DOE are summarized in table 3. By calculating the
signed adhesive. It was cured at 120oC and 5 psi for density of the specimen, kg/m3, and use it for deter-
45 mins. The LVL sandwich composite with dimen- mining the specific flexural values, the results are
sion of approx. 120x120x50 was obtained. The shown in table 4.
specimen was machine saw cut into the required test Table 3. Flexural Properties of LVL composite.
sample, paper sand polished and post cured at 70oC Test Responds#1(Flexural Properties)
for 8 hours. Strength Modulus Toughness
No. (MPa) (MPa) (kJ/m2)

2.3 Design of Experiment 1 16.600.86 105.209.16 31.355.43

K
There are 3 parameters of the 2 DOE to verify their 2 20.880.76 130.4112.96 33.176.33
effect to flexural properties. There are adhesive 3 19.282.28 148.1519.94 28.177.41
type(A), peeled wood type(B) and L/D ratio of ba-
4 19.410.82 160.5119.91 32.4716.65
gasse fiber(C) corresponding to rubber wood, epoxy
adhesive and short bagasse fiber(Low L/D ratio), re- 5 21.883.21 167.5310.28 27.3710.84

spectively. For each high and low level parameter 6 21.871.97 176.3139.14 27.256.14
was spit into 2 sub levels as shown in table 1. The 7 16.412.28 114.242.01 31.3818.14
percentage is referred to fraction of 10 layers used.
8 33.841.47 224.7320.16 44.144.24
Therefore 1 layer is equivalent to 10%. The matrix
of the DOE is summarized in table 2. The flexural
Table 4. Specific Flexural Properties of LVL composite.
properties by mean of strength, modulus and their
specific figures were engaged as experimental re- Test Responds#2(Specific Flexural)
spond
No. Strength Modulus Toughness
Table 1. The DOE parameters and their level.
1 0.0170.001 0.1110.009 0.0330.006
Parameters (-)Low Level(%) (+)High Level(%)
Adhesive(A) 20 30 60 70 2 0.0220.000 0.1360.015 0.0340.007
Wood(B) 20 30 60 70
3 0.0200.003 0.1530.019 0.0300.008
L/D ratio(C) 20 30 60 70
4 0.0200.001 0.1650.020 0.0330.017
Table 2. The DOE Matrix.
5 0.0230.003 0.1740.011 0.0280.011
Run Factors 6 0.0230.002 0.1840.011 0.0280.006
No. A(Adhesive) B(Woods) C(L/D Ratio) 7 0.0170.002 0.1190.021 0.0320.019
1 2(-20) 2(-20) 2(-20) 8 0.0350.001 0.2330.021 0.0450.004
2 3(-30) 3(-30) 6(+60)
3 2(-20) 6(+60) 3(-30)
Roughly observation, it is found that the 8th run,
high epoxy adhesive, high rubber wood and high
4 3(-30) 7(+70) 7(+70) L/D ratio of bagasse fiber, exhibit the highest values.
5 6(+60) 3(-30) 3(-30) This preliminary indicates that rubber wood, epoxy
6 7(+70) 2(-20) 6(+60) adhesive and short fiber give rise to the superior
 CICE 2010 - The 5th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering
September 27-29, 2010 Beijing, China

flexural properties. In order to conclude the effect of properties. The tables show that all of the models
those parameters on the flexural properties of LVL used to evaluate the effect of those assigned parame-
composite, the Design ExpertTM with 95% degree of ters are not significant, within 95% degree of confi-
confidential, p= 0.05, was employed. dential, p-values are greater than 0.05. These con-
clusions are confirmed by the normal plots and
Table 5. ANOVA analysis for Flexural Properties of DOE. pareto chart as selectively given only for the flexural
Sum strength and the specific flexural strength in figure
Source of df Mean F P Conclusion 1. The rest of the plots show the similarity. As indi-
Square Square value value cated in figure that all of the effects and also their
Respond: Flexural strength(MPa) interacted ones are lined on the trend line, and below
Model 59.57 1 59.57 2.35 0.1763 Not significant the critical t-values as shown in the pareto chart, re-
C 59.57 1 59.57 2.35 0.1763 spectively. It is obviously seen that those effects are
Residual 152.71 6 25.36 positive affect to the flexural properties. Except for
Cor Total 211.74 7 the flexural modulus where the interaction parameter
Respond: Flexural Modulus(MPa) AB is shown the negative effect to the respond prop-
Model 3739.17 3 1246.39 0.76 0.5711 Not significant erties. It is meant that if high content of rubber
A 2399.17 1 2399.17 1.47 0.2923
wood(+B) is employed, the low level of epoxy adhe-
B 581.06 1 581.06 0.36 0.5831
sive(-A) must be used and vice versa.
AB 758.94 1 758.94 0.46 0.5330
Residual 6536.72 4 1634.18
Cor Total 10275.89 7
Respond: Toughness(kJ/m2)
Model 112.94 4 28.23 0.890 0.5623 Not significant
A 3.05 1 3.05 0.096 0.7772
B 36.04 1 36.04 1.13 0.3654
C 44.18 1 44.18 1.39 0.3237
BC 29.65 1 29.65 0.930 0.4957
Residual 95.51 3 31.84
Cor Total 208.43 7

(a) (b)
Table 6. ANOVA analysis for Specific Flexural Properties of
DOE.
Sum
Source of df Mean F P Conclusion
Square Square value value
Respond: Specific Flexural strength
Model 7.23E-05 2 3.61E-05 1.15 0.3874 Not significant
B 6.13E-06 1 6.13E-06 0.20 0.6768
C 6.61E-05 1 6.61E-05 2.11 0.2060
Residual 1.57E-04 5 3.13E-05
Cor Total 2.29E-04 7
(c) (d)
Respond: Specific Flexural Modulus
Model 3.90E-03 3 1.30E-03 0.75 0.5768 Not significant
A 2.63E-05 1 2.63E-03 1.52 0.2856
B 5.28E-04 1 5.28E-04 0.30 0.6103
AB 7.41E-04 1 7.41E-04 0.43 0.5488
Residual 6.93E-03 4 1.73E-03
Cor Total 0.011 7
Respond: Specific Toughness
Model 3.61E-05 1 3.61E-05 1.28 0.3003 Not significant
C 3.61E-05 1 3.61E-05 1.28 0.3003
Residual 1.69E-04 6 2.81E-05
(e) (f)
Cor Total 2.05E-04 7 Figure 1. The normal plot and pareto chart of (a) (b) flexural
strength, (c) (d) specific flexural strength and (e) (f) flex-
Table 5 and 6 summarize the ANOVA result for ural modulus of the DOE analysis, respectively.
both normal flexural properties and the specific
From the above statistically analyzed results, it can
be concluded that epoxy and vinyl ester adhesives,
rubber and eucalyptus woods and the L/D ratio of
bagasse fiber used as core sandwich LVL composite
does not any significant effect of the properties by
mean of flexural bending of the LVL wood. How-
ever from the previous work studied the fiber rein-
forced LVL composite, it was indicated that rubber
wood with room temperature cure epoxy adhesive
exhibit the superior properties than eucalyptus
wood[4]. Their strengths are much higher than the
values observed in this sandwich material. This
might be the fact that the bagasse cores are worst
brittle and then they significantly contribute to infe-
rior flexural properties. Adding more tougher con-
stituent would not enhance the properties.

4 CONCLUSIONS

By using the DOE approach to evaluate the effect of

adhesive, epoxy and vinyl ester, wood types, rubber
and eucalyptus, and core material derived from ba-
gasse fiber with different in L/D ratio, for preparing
the multi layers core sandwich LVL composite, it
was found that those parameters do not have any
significant to the responded properties by mean of
flexural bending. The statistical means showed the
analyzed values are more than the critical p-value.

REFFERENCES

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Technological and economic comparison of the
usage beech and alder wood in plywood and
laminated veneer lumber manufacturing. Build-
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reinforcement of timber in bending. Canadian J.
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on engineered wood: Laminated veneer lum-
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