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Virginia Tech

Exploration of Wood DCB Specimens Using Southern Yellow Pine for Monotonic and Cyclic Loading

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The primary direction of this thesis was towards exploring qualitative and quantitative characteristics necessary for refining and understanding the flat wood double cantilever beam (DCB) as a valid means for testing Mode I fracture energy in wood adhesive bonds. Southern yellow pine (SYP) adherends were used with epoxy and phenol formaldehyde (PF) impregnated films, providing two systems with different characteristics for investigation. An adhesive penetration analysis was performed for both the epoxy and PF bonds. The PF penetration into the SYP was shown to be relatively shallow. The epoxy penetration was shown to be deeper. Epoxy-SYP DCBs were quasi-statically tested with varying widths (10 mm, 15 mm, and 20 mm), showing decreases in scatter of critical and arrest strain energy release rates, GIc and GIa, with increases in specimen width. Quasi-static fracture testing was also performed on PF SYP-DCBs, showing much higher critical and arrest fracture energy values than the epoxy-SYP DCBs, indicating that deep adhesive penetration is not necessarily a requisite for higher Mode I fracture energy values. Grain distribution influences were computationally investigated because of the stiffness difference between latewood and earlywood growth and the grain angle along the length of the beams. The grain angle and the stiffness difference between latewood and earlywood growth caused the effective stiffness, (ExxI)eff, to vary along the length of the beam. The effective stiffness variation caused variations in the beam's ability to receive and store strain energy, complicating and confounding determination of experimental results. Cyclic loading tests were performed on PF-SYP DCB's. The cycle frequency was 3Hz, with a valley to peak load ratio of R = 0.5. Specimen softening was observed with cycling, with re-stiffening occurring with crack growth. Contrary to expectations, specimen compliance occasionally decreased with small crack extensions. A toughening mechanism was frequently observed, whereby subsequent crack lengths required more cycles to failure than the previous crack length. Monotonically extending the crack length far from the fatigued region created a fresh crack that did not show the toughened behavior. But toughening did resume with subsequent crack lengths.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Department dc:contributor.department
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2004

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Liswell, Brian P.
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Frazier, Charles E.
  • Dillard, David A.
Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Thangjitham, Surot

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-05042004-170636
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9955

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Liswell, Brian P.. Exploration of Wood DCB Specimens Using Southern Yellow Pine for Monotonic and Cyclic Loading. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/9955