Stiffness and strength properties of rattan furniture joints subj ected to lateral load

摘要

A study was conducted to investigate the stiffness and strength properties of various types of joints in rattan furniture subjected to lateral load. Four types of joints commonly found in rattan furniture, i.e., nailed, nailed and bound with rattan rope, screwed, screwed and bound, were tested. Initial stiffness, secondary stiffness and ultimate strength properties of the joints were studied. The results showed that, in general, the lateral stiffness and strength properties of the screwed joints werenot significantly different from those of the nailed joints. Binding had significantly improved the secondary stiffness and strength for the nailed joints, but not for the screwed joints. Moreover, binding was not able to increase the initial stiffnessof both types of joints. It was found that stiffer and stronger rattan joints could be produced by using denser rattan.