CLT – material for the measure of the future

Abstract

CLT – material for the measure of the future. CLT (cross laminated timber, X-Lam) is one type of engineered wood products. The first idea of CLT was presented in the seventies of the last century in Austria. Over the following years, the concept of cross-gluing wood was intensively developer in Europa, USA, Canada and China. Based on the literature data, this work presents history, structure, production process ,selected mechanical and physical parameters and applications of CLT. CLT is a wood panel product made from gluing together layers of solid-sawn lumber. The number of wooden layers is unpaired, most often 3, 5 or 7. Each layer consists of closely spaced and parallel boards. Adjacent layers are perpendicular to each other. The physical and mechanical properties of this product depend on many factors, e.g. number of layers and their thickness, the width and thickness of the boards in the layer, class of lumber, species of wood. Despite the fact that CLT is rather new material often used, especially in construction industry (both single-storey and multi-storey buildings). The short time of project implementation and their ecological character indicate that CLT is the material of the future in construction industry.