Finger joint technique to mitigate climate change.

Abstract

Introduction: Human induced climate change is one of the most pressing and complex issues facing society in the 21st century. Increased use of forests and wood products, does make an important contribution towards tackling the problem of climate change although it does not necessarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions at source (Hannah et al, 2004). Trees sequester carbon during their lifetime, absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it in their mass. For every kilogram of wood grown, 1.5 kg of CO2 is removed from the atmosphere (ASCE, 2010). Storing CO2 in wood could therefore be considered as an effective means of mitigating climate change, though wood also releases CO2 when it is used as fuel (Philippe, 2013). When comparing the various heat sources: wood, coal, fuel oil, gas or electricity, in respect of climatic impacts, the pertinent characteristic is the emission factor, which is the amount of carbon (or carbon dioxide) emitted per unit to released energy. Substitution of wood for fossil fuels does not reduce emissions of carbon dioxide because the emission factor of wood shows a higher value than that of other fuels in common use. Thus, giving the primacy to carbon sequestration is vital to increase the carbon stock in forests, wood products or in some kind of long-term wood storage, (Philippe, 2013). While using timber in construction and furniture manufacturing industry, waste timber materials and short-length sections of timbers which are dumped by sawmills is considered to be a matter of concern. However, some of this discarded timber planks are already being used to fuel kiln dried boilers. Finger joint is a sustainable, ecofriendly and economically valuable concept in furniture industry (Sandika et al., 2017). Finger joint is a recognized technique connecting two small pieces of waste timber together to ensure sustainable utilization. Currently, the technique is used in Sri Lanka for non-structural purposes such as making timber boards and furniture. However, issues related with the strength of the joints are still not fully investigated under Sri Lankan conditions. Consumers are paying their attention to the strength of finger joint productions. This study was undertaken to determine the tensile strength performance of both un-jointed (clear) and finger-jointed four species of timber with 13 mm finger lengths and 4 mm finger pitch.