Experimental study of the pull-out resistance of alternative high-strength fasteners for wood-based materials

ABSTRACT

More curtain-wall facings are fastened non-visibly to create a uniform building surface. As a consequence of bigger panels and the invisible attachment, the load effects on the fasteners and the fixing areas of the panels are increased. These include the tare weight and the tensile load due to the wind load. Therefore, this study assessed the tensile load of novel fasteners in two different wood materials. A new façade panel material is high-pressure laminate. It consists of cellulose layers soaked in epoxy resin. The second tested material was a modified pine wood, which is produced by impregnation and subsequent heat-curing. It is comparable to highly durable tropical wood. The survey focused on three alternative fixing materials such as screw inserts, drive-in nuts and undercut anchors. The pull-out resistance and failure pattern of the specimens with an alternative fastener are compared to those with wood screws. Furthermore, it was tested whether different temperatures between −20°C and +80°C have an impact on it. The results demonstrate that the alternative fasteners are much more effective than normal wood screws. The pull-out resistance out of the same thin plate material was up to four times higher.

KEYWORDS:

• Fastener
• pull-out resistance
• withdrawal resistance
• high-pressure laminate
• modified pine wood

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany (Bundesministerium für Wirschaft und Energie). All fasteners were provided free of charge by the manufacturers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag under [grant number ZF 4123706HF5]. The programme funds small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with business operations in Germany which want to develop new or significantly improve existing products, processes or technical services. Public and private non-profit research and technology organisations (RTO) act as cooperation partners of the SMEs.