Industrial Requirements for Cross-Laminated Timber Manufacturing

Abstract: Wood is a valuable sustainable material that meets the requirements for structural application. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a wood-based product that is mainly used in the building industry. Due to the rapid global market increase, a number of new CLT plants are emerging worldwide and thereby a need for standardisation is more than ever. There is no existing harmonised standard for CLT and it means a diversity between manufacturers, CLT products and its layup, which may in turn affects the properties of available CLT in the market. Therefore, this study was performed through literature study and internet-based interviews from five manufacturer in Sweden and Central Europe, to provide more information regarding the industrial requirements for CLT production. Three specific objectives of this study were: (1) wood and adhesive types in CLT production, (2) wood strength classes for CLT production, (3) important requirements for CLT producers and existing standards.   Literature review and interviews showed that spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) in combination with polyurethane (PUR) adhesive is the most commonly used materials in Europe for CLT production, which are approved by EN 16351 (2021). Other wood species, e.g., pine, poplar and birch can be used or are already used in a minor extent. Strength classes for lamellas in CLT are often C24, but timbers with lower strength grades are possible. Some manufacturer use combinations of different strength graded timber and in this small scale study different strength graded timber was in generally the biggest diversity between manufactures. Only a few material properties such as modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, compression and shear strength are listed in EN 16351 (2021) and EN 338 (2016), as the factors for quality measurements of the CLT products. This study, however, showed that the critical material properties for the most interviewed CLT producers are merely modulus of elasticity and rarely modulus of rupture.