Static bending performance on flatwise direction of Mengkulang and Kasai LVL beam in structural size

Abstract

Most of hardwoods in Malaysia is well known as strong and good as construction materials but listed under higher strength group which limited and expensive. Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is one type of engineered wood product which displayed good mechanical properties as structure component. The paper investigated the physical characteristics and static performance of LVL made from two species of hardwood timber, Kasai (Pometia spp), Mengkulang (Heritiera spp.) in structural size. These two species are from different Strength Group (SG) of timber, which Kasai from SG4 and Mengkulang from SG5. The LVL beams were tested at one loading directions, namely flatwise directions; and tested at two grain directions. MS 837:2006, and BS EN14279:2004+A1:2009 were referred for this study. The data shown that density value is highest for the Kasai samples compared to Mengkulang. In term of bending strength, Kasai also shown the highest strength and MOR values compared to Mengkulang. Samples tested on grain direction showed better performance compared to perpendicular grain. Flatwise loaded samples displayed almost similar MOE and MOR values.