Investigation and compare the tensile strength of hardwood dowel joints, made by glue and welding

The insertion of dowels into solid wood for furniture has been used for centuries. Recently, this simple technology has been upgraded. The objective of the research was to evaluate and compare the tensile strength of the joints made of wood dowel through new method “wood welding” and classical method “using of glue”. Variables included dowel joints method (welding joint and joint with glue), dowel diameter (10 and 12 mm) and dowel surface (smooth and grooved). Members joint and dowel wood were hornbeam species (Carpinus betulus) and the used glue was polyvinyl acetate (PVA). The results showed that the types of joints, diameter and surface dowel, have significant effect on the tensile strength, so that welded joints, dowel diameter 12 mm and dowel grooved surface has the most tensile strength to other samples. The results also showed that in all cases, the strengths of the joints made by welding was more than the joints made by PVA glue.