Adhesive bonding of wood laminations allows for the manufacture of large wood members. Adhesives used for this purpose must meet specified levels of resistance to heat at elevated temperatures. This performance is determined through testing. Code-referenced standards currently require such adhesives to pass a bond line shear test at elevated temperatures as a demonstration of this performance. The presentation will include an overview of the manufacturing of glued engineered wood products and the applicable code-referenced standards. During the work of the ICC Tall Wood Building Ad Hoc Committee (TWB), special test programs were developed and performed with the input of the fire service. New test protocols were developed to ensure the adhesive used in cross-laminated timber (CLT) will not result in the re-kindling of uncharred wood at the bond line. Background and the resulting test protocol for CLT will be presented.
By the end of this course, you should be able to do the following:
- Recognize how cross-laminated timber and other glued engineered wood products are manufactured.
- Describe the compartment fire test results and circumstances that led to the development of a full-scale room fire protocol for qualifying adhesives used to manufacturer cross-laminated timber.
- Summarize the test protocols and associated pass/fail criteria established in PRG 320 for qualifying adhesives and evaluate their impact on mass timber construction.
- Understand the proposed code change that addresses the performance requirements for cross laminated timber, and state its impact on mass timber construction.