Use of Hevea brasiliensis Rubberwood for Glulam Beam Production

ABSTRACT In Brazil, Hevea brasiliensis plantations are principally destined for latex production. In the national literature however, there are few studies on the mechanical properties of rubberwood. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of rubberwood in the manufacture of glulam beams (VLC), through the use of pieces of sawn wood of H. brasiliensis clone RRIM 600 glued using mono-component polyurethane adhesive. The beams were subjected to destructive bending tests according to the procedures of standard NBR 7190/97. The results were correlated with the resistance to shearing in the solid wood and the glue line. The structural performance of VLCs manufactured from rubberwood was significant when the last layer was removed from the bending calculation. This layer presented problems in the finger joint. The bending strength of VLCs is highly dependent on the tensile strength of the finger joint, which proved to be the critical point in this study.