Performance Evaluation of a Wood Treatment for Connections with Dowel-Type Bolts

Recent studies have shown the advantage of wood impregnation on increasing the dowel-bearing strength of black spruce wood by almost 50%. The aim of the present study was to improve the mechanical performance of a dowel-type connection through an impregnation method for black spruce wood. The results showed that wood treatments improved the mechanical performance of dowel-type connections. The dowel-bearing strength increased up to 25%, while the stiffness increased up to 52%. The increase obtained was lower in comparison with the previous studies, however. A lower polymer quantity, resulted in a shorter vacuum time, and a lower temperature polymerization used in wood treatment brought the process closer to an industrial application.

Automated summary

Recent studies have shown that wood impregnation can significantly increase the dowel-bearing strength of black spruce wood. This study improves the mechanical performance of black spruce wood through impregnation, resulting in increased dowel-bearing strength and stiffness. Although the increase obtained is lower compared to previous studies, the use of shorter vacuum time and lower temperature polymerization brings the process closer to industrial application.