Experimental investigation on timber-glass composite i-beams

Timber-glass composite I-beams were manufactured and tested in bending to failure. The glass web of the I-beam was adhesively bonded to the timber flanges using three different adhesives: Epoxy, Acrylate and Silicone. For the webs two types of 8 mm thick glass were used: annealed float and heat heat-strengthened glass. Before testing the beams with heatstrengthened glass, the residual-stress profile through the thickness of the glass panels was measured using a portable scattered light polariscope SCALP. The results show that the beam stiffness was similar for the acrylate and epoxy-bonded beams, despite the difference in adhesive stiffness. The beams bonded with the silicone adhesive showed approximately 25% lower stiffness. In terms of load bearing capacity, the beams made using heat-strengthened glass were approximately 50% stronger than the beams made using annealed float, for the epoxy and acrylate adhesive. Using the silicone adhesive, the increase was approximately 20%.