Adhesive Through-Reinforcement Improves the Fracture Toughness of a Laminated Birch Wood Composite

In this paper we test the hypothesis that adhesive through-reinforcement in combination with glass-fibre reinforcement of adhesive bond lines will significantly improve the fracture toughness of a laminated birch wood composite. We test this hypothesis using a model composite consisting of perforated veneer that allowed a polyurethane adhesive to penetrate and reinforce veneers within the composite. Model composite specimens were tested for mode I fracture properties, and scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the microstructure of fracture surfaces. Our results clearly show that through-reinforcement, and also reinforcing adhesive bond lines with glass-fibre, significantly improved fracture toughness of the birch wood composite. Our results also indicate that improvements in fracture toughness depended on the level of reinforcement. Improvements in fracture toughness were related to the ability of the reinforcement to arrest crack development during fracture testing and the fibre bridging effect of glass-fibre in adhesive bond lines. We conclude that through-reinforcement is an effective way of improving the fracture toughness of laminated wood composites, but further research is needed to develop practical ways of creating such reinforcement in composites that more closely resemble commercial products.