Effects of moisture content on lap-shear, bending, and tensile strength of lap-jointed and finger-jointed southern pine using phenol resorcinol formaldehyde and melamine urea formaldehyde

Abstract

The bonding performance of the phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde adhesive (PRF) and melamine-urea-formaldehyde adhesive (MUF) with southern pine as substrates at various moisture contents (MC) was evaluated. The results showed that bonding shear strength with MUF and PRF was negatively related to wood MC, and bonding shear strength with MUF was higher than that of the PRF. The bending and tensile strengths of finger-jointed lumber decreased with wood MC. The bending strength of finger-jointed lumber was affected more by wood than adhesive. However, both wood and adhesive exhibited the same important contribution to the tensile strength.