One pre-stressed methodology named as swelling-fit for binderless dowels joint of wood

One methodology of binderless joint by swelling of dowels with very low moisture content to obtain pre-stress for fast-growing timber was proposed in this paper. The results showed that performance of binderless joint after 48 h conditioning was close to traditional glued-joint, that is 31.5 N·m for ultimate bending moment capacity and 1743.4 N for maximum withdrawing force of two-pin joint. Clear densification of intersection between dowels and poplar beams was observed from micro-structure analysis. The theoretical model to predict the maximum withdrawal force of pre-stressed joint was setup, which is in coincidence with test results.