Shrink-Fitting and Dowel Welding in Mortise and Tenon Structural Wood Joints

Shrink-fitting, a common bonding technique in metal assemblies, was used for mortise and tenon wood joints. The joints had considerable strength. Shrink-fitting yielded joint strengths comparable to those obtained by using several welded dowels. Increasing the number of welded dowels, however, produced joints of higher strength than those bonded just by shrink-fitting. Combining in the same joint both dowel welding and shrink-fitting yielded joint strengths higher than those obtained by the individual techniques alone, and at the same time allowing decreasing the number of welded dowels needed.