CHARACTERISTICS OF BONDED-IN STEEL AND CARBONFIBRE- REINFORCED POLYMER (CFRP) PLATES INTO TIMBER

Abstract

HAFIZAH MA, ZAKIAH A & AZMI I. 2014. Characteristics of bonded-in steel and carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates into timber. Adhesives can be used to form load-bearing joints in timber structures, both in repair and in new-build applications. One of the methods of making joints is to use rods or dowels or plates, bonded into pre-drilled holes in timber elements using structural adhesive for transferring structural loads between such elements. An adhesive is expected to hold materials together and transfer design loads from one adherend to another within a given service environment for the life of the structure. The behaviour of the joints depends on many parameters such as glue-line thickness, types of rods and types of adherends. This paper reports the behaviour of bonded-in joint by varying the plate (steel and carbon-fibrereinforced polymer (CFRP) plates and timber (keruing and kempas) types. To characterise the performance of the bonded-in joints, a series of test were conducted, namely, pull-out and block shear tests. As strength properties of the joint were greatly affected by the adhesive, mechanical properties of the adhesives were also determined by conducting flexural and tensile as well as contact angle tests in order to determine the adhesion characteristics. Results showed that the shear strength of bonded-in joint using CFRP plate was higher than that using steel plate.