Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Laminated Wood Structures Using a Homemade Bending Tester

Abstract

The choice of materials used to build a laminate recurve bow is crucial to optimizing performance. To this end, a low-cost bending tester was designed and built to measure the flexural modulus and modulus of rupture on a variety of wooden laminates. To gain a better understanding of the relationship between the properties of the laminates and the individual species comprising the laminates, woods with a wide range of elastic and strength properties were chosen. Differences between the expected and experimental results are attributed to the properties of the adhesive and defects in the wood. KEYWORDS: bending test; recurve bow; wood; laminates; modulus of rupture; flexural modulus