Influence of Densification on Bending Strength of Laminated Beech Wood

This paper reports the influence of densification and cyclic loading on the bending strength of laminated beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). There have been many studies dealing with the bending strength of solid or laminated wood; however, densification is much less explored with respect to its use in the production of laminated wood. Laminated beech wood was loaded using three different numbers of cycles (1000, 2000, and 3000 cycles). Bending strength values of the cyclically loaded laminated wood were compared with that of laminated wood that was not cyclically loaded. The laminated wood was formed by a combination of densified and non-densified veneers, as well as polyvinyl cholride (PVC) fabric. The results show that the laminated wood consisting of densified and non-densified veneers, eventually with PVC film included, reached higher values of bending strength in comparison with the traditional composition consisting of non-densified veneers. Densification had a strong impact on the bending strength. Laminated wood composed solely with densified veneers achieved by 17.4% higher bending strength compared to the reference. On the other hand, the number of cycles did not influence the bending strength to a meaningful extent.