The Effects of Wood Species and Joint Technique on Bending Moment Capacity and Elasticity of T-type Furniture Joints

Abstract

In this study, bending moment capacities and elasticity of T-type furniture joints prepared from different wood species and connected with different techniques were compared. Specimens were constructed of Turkish beech (Fagus orientalis L.), Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl), Anatolian chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill) and Common Walnut (Juglans regia L.). Dowel and mortise and tenon joints were considered as glued joints, while minifix and maxifix joints were considered as without glue joints. In the glued joints, polyvinylacetate (PVAc) and polyurethane (Pu) adhesives were utilized. A total of 350 specimens that included 5 wood species, 7 connection type, and 10 replications for each were prepared and tested under static bending loads. As a result of the tests, the highest bending moment capacity and elasticity values were obtained with walnut (185,74 Nm, 825,52 Nm/rad) while the lowest bending moment capacity and elasticity values were obtained with Scotch pine (122,69 Nm, 545,31 Nm/rad). Mortise and tenon joints were yielded the best results (260,17 Nm, 1.156,33 Nm/rad) while minifix joint were yielded the worst (82,26 Nm, 365,61 Nm/rad) among the connection types. For glued joints, Pu gave higher values than PVAc, and mortise and tenon joints gave better results than dowel joints.