Design and Development of Modular Wood Connector As Wood Jointing Method Suhaimi Shahrin*, M.N

Proceedings of Mechanical Engineering Research Day 2018, pp. 141-142, May 2018

Design and development of modular wood connector as wood jointing method Suhaimi Shahrin*, M.N. Nur Adiena Farzana, Wan Nur A’tiqah Wan Draman, A.H.M. Haidiezul, Muhammad Ikman Ishak, A.K. Mohamad Syafiq, Norsyahadah Yeop Wasir, Noor Diyana Dahlan, Bakri Bakar, M.H.M. Hazwan, A.M. Roslan, Mohd Riduan Jamalludin

Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Level 1, Block S2, UniCITI Alam Campus, Sungai Chuchuh, 02100 Padang Besar, Perlis, Malaysia.

*Corresponding e-mail: [email protected]

Keywords: Furniture design; wood joint; finite element analysis

ABSTRACT – In designing a good furniture, there are method. three major aspects that should be considered; design, Few reasons that caused the joint to last long material selection, and strength. For strength aspects, the because it allows a joint to naturally expand and contract design of joint play a vital role as it needs to sustain the with moisture and temperature changes in the loads that applied on the furniture. The joint must capable environment without devastating separation that weakens to sustain the sufficient load and stay firm. In this study, the joint and which may lead damage to the wood three different designs of joint were proposed in order to traditional joinery also allows for selective repair or determine the best joint design to be applied to the reconstruction of individual components than modern furniture. The Abaqus software was used to examine the joinery methods. This is a major advantage that helps strength of all three different designs. All three designs preservationists retain more of the woodwork original to were constructed in T-shape with constant tenon (male) a historic building [2]. length and mortise (female). Among all three-proposed design, Design A provided the best result in terms of 2. METHODOLOGY stress distribution and maximum displacement. Finite element method (FEM) is a numerical method of solving problem of engineering and 1. INTRODUCTION mathematical physics. It is also a method which widely Timber is a material widely used in the construction accepted by many engineering disciplines. The main and furniture industry. Timber known for low energy reason to conduct this linear analysis on the design model consumption for production and its renewable capacity. which is to identify or determine the critical parts of the Use of this naturally grown material is likely to become object that highly exposed to the risk of failures. This is more and more significant, particularly with today’s indicated by the high concentration of stress (in red environmental issues [1]. Besides, wood is also the colour) observed on the analysed parts. This analysis also common material use in making traditional joinery may help designers to predict the reaction of product during the historic time. Almost all items of furniture are towards any external forces applied to it and shows made of several individual wood parts which are whether a product will break, wear out, or work the way assembled to form a complete set of shelve, stool, it is designed. This method is used to help in determining cupboard or chair. Where one wood joins another, there the value of stress and deformation produced in the joint is usually some kind of joint. Proper joint is important and the output will be considered to choose the best part of furniture construction. design from mechanical point of view. Figure 1 depicts Wood joinery is one of the traditional methods of the load and boundary conditions applied in one of the joining wood that typically used long before screws and three joint models. nails being introduced in the woodworking world. Some types of wood joinery introduced various mortise and tenon, and dovetail joints. The joints were usually strengthened by wood key, corbels, pegs, wedges and glue [2]. Traditional Chinese architecture as old as Chinese civilization itself used this method for a perfect fit without using fasteners and glues. This traditional joinery also had been widely used in Malaysia architecture especially in the making of wooden house, frame and panel construction, and even in furniture making. Example of traditional building that used traditional joinery is the well-known Old Palace of Seri Menanti, it was built between the years 1902-1908 which has been constructed without any present of nails as part of the construction material [3]. Proving itself to be able to stand the test of thousands of years, traditional joinery Figure 1 The load and boundary conditions applied on is clearly a higher quality and more stable joinery the model. ______© Faculty of Engineering Technology

Shahrin et al., 2018

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4. CONCLUSION The reaction of the three designs of wood connector Jointing is a critical part of furniture construction under the application of horizontal and vertical loads was that really needs to be focused by furniture maker in evaluated. The strength of a joint is affected by three fabricating a strong furniture. Sometimes, it will be factors which are tolerance between male and female hardest part to choose the right connection as designer parts, types of adhesive used to assemble, species of should consider both mechanical strength of the joint and wood, and the most important factor is the shape and how the joint will affect the appearance of the furniture. dimension of the joint [5]. Table 1 exhibits the value of Overall, it can be said that all the objectives for this study stress and displacement within all designs for both is achieved. It can also be proved that designer should vertical and horizontal loads. take consider many criteria such as the properties of material, locations of joint to be applied, types of wood Table 1 The value of stress and displacement within all joint to be used, shape and dimension of the joint, and the the three designs for vertical and horizontal loads. effect of the joint on the furniture itself to produce a good Design Design Design wood joint. Finite element analysis, also shows that the Load Result A B C existing design of wood joinery is still the strongest one. Stress (kPa) 454.7 238.2 327 Vertical ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Displacement 18.68 17.27 18.95 Appreciation is given to Faculty of Engineering (mm) Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis. Stress (kPa) 204.3 218.45 297.11 Horizontal Displacement REFERENCES 5.03 12.55 6.27 (mm) [1] Zhang, Q. M., & Zhang, W. M. (2013). Material election and ecological design for furniture Based on the results of analysis, Design C recorded products based on the principles of green the highest value of stress which is 297.11 kPa followed manufacturing. Advanced Materials Research, 610, by Design A and Design B under the application of 502-506. vertical load. Whilst, for the horizontal load, Design A [2] Simek, M., & Vaclav S. (2010). Traditional seemed to generate a greater stress as compared to others furniture joinery from the point of view of advanced with a magnitude of 454.7 kPa. In terms of displacement, technologies. Proceedings of The International Design B, on the other hand, generated the greatest Convention of Society of Wood Science And displacement value of 12.55 mm under the application of Technology And United Nations Economic vertical load. In reverse, Design A and Design C had Commission For Europe - Timber Committee, 11- recorded lower value of displacement as compared to 14. Design B (18.95 mm) when the horizontal load was [3] Harun, N. Z., Dg, N. F., & Nordin, N. A. (2015). applied. The roles of urban heritage in determining the Among the three proposed designs, Design A and image of the royal town of Sri Menanti, Negeri Design C are the strong options to be considered than Sembilan. Planning Malaysia Journal, 13(5). Design B. This is because the value of maximum stress [4] Shahriman, A. B., AK, M. S., Hashim, M. S. M., and displacement for Design B were the lowest, which Zuradzman, M., Rahman, A., Cheng, E. M., & indicated the strength of the joint was the weakest and Zaaba, S. K. (1885). Air Flow Quality Analysis of tended to cause failure if a higher load was applied. For Modenas Engine Exhaust System. AIP Conference horizontal load, the difference of stress value between Proceedings, 20120(2017), 1-8. Design A and Design C was 45% with Design C plotted [5] Atar, M., Ozcifci, A., Altinok, M., & Celikel, U. higher value of stress. Meanwhile, for vertical load, the (2009). Determination of diagonal compression and value of stress for Design A was 454.7 kPa, which was tension performances for case furniture corner higher than Design C (327.10 kPa) by 39.05%. It was joints constructed with wood biscuits. Materials & illustrated that both Design A and Design C recorded Design, 30(3), 665-670. higher values as compared to Design B. [6] Tankut, A. N., & Tankut, N. (2005). The effects of Another aspect to be considered was maximum joint forms (shape) and dimensions on the strengths displacement before the final decision was made. For of mortise and tenon joints. Turkish Journal of both horizontal and vertical loads, Design C provided the Agriculture and Forestry, 29(6), 493-498. poor result, which means Design C tends to deform more than Design A. Design C plotted 6.27 and 18.95 mm displacement value under the horizontal and vertical loads, respectively. For Design A, the maximum displacement value for both horizontal load (5.03 mm) and vertical load (18.68 mm) were better than Design C.

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