Engineered Wood Composite of Laminated Veneer Lumber: Physical and Mechanical Properties

Utilisation of forest plantation species such as Acacia hybrid has been used in wood-based industry as an alternative to solid wood that was usually attained from natural forest. While, the under-utilised species such as Mangifera sp. is not often been used as raw material for wood products, in this study, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) has been produced from Acacia hybrid and Mangifera sp. The physical and mechanical properties of LVL were determined and compared. For physical testing, the range value of moisture content was 9.41% to 14.56%, Density was 487.90 kg/m3 to 699.10 kg/m3, thickness swelling was between 0.20% to 6.05%, water absorption between 32.71% to 91.25%, and rate of delamination from 0% to 100%. Mangifera sp. LVL has higher moisture content, rate of delamination, and water absorbency. In mechanical testing, it is been found that Acacia hybrid LVL has overall higher strength compared to Mangifera sp. LVL, in terms of static bending strength (MOR and MOE), shear strength, and compression strength. Range of value for MOR was between 10.27 N/mm2 to 129.99 N/mm2, MOE between 1138 N/mm2 to 16472.93 N/mm2, shear strength between 0.43 N/mm2 to 3.40 N/mm2, and compression between 139.45 N/mm2 to 6749.74 N/mm2. For physical testing, the overall result of p-value for moisture content, water absorption, and delamination were significant at p ≤ 0.05, while density and thickness swelling were not significant at p ≥ 0.05. For overall result, the p-value for static bending strength (MOR and MOE) was significant at p ≤ 0.05 while for shear strength and compression strength were not significant at p ≥ 0.05.