A review of the utilisation of hardwoods for LVL

Abstract

This review on the use of hardwoods for the production of LVL revealed that a large number of research studies have been carried out, particularly in North America and three Asian countries (Japan, Malaysia and China). However, the studies have been restricted to species of low to medium density, i.e. 290 to 693 kg/m³. Two major potential uses of hardwood LVL have been investigated in these studies: domestic and industrial structures, and various furniture components. The production of structural LVL in North America and Asia was based predominantly on low density hardwoods. A study currently carried out in Europe aims at using medium density hardwoods for structural LVL. The LVL used for furniture components was produced from medium density hardwoods. No work has been undertaken outside Australia on the use of high density species for LVL. In Australia, studies undertaken on the production of LVL and hardwood plywood from eucalypts revealed that there were significant problems in gluing the dense raw material which often had a high level of extractives. Peeling low quality, small diameter eucalypt logs also created problems when the traditional plywood processing techniques were used.