It is generally assumed that the properties of wood against fatigue are good, but little is known about the properties of adhesively bonded wood, which represents today most of the wood-based products. Lap-shear samples glued with three common wood adhesives [two ductile one-component polyurethane (1C-PUR) systems and one brittle phenol resorcinol formaldehyde (PRF) adhesive] were tested under cyclical loads at three different climates [20°C, 35% - 50% - 85% relative humidity (RH)]. For the analysis of data, an empirical model based on reaction kinetics was developed. In addition, a probabilistic model was used to estimate the endurance limit and the expected run-out lifetime. Both models were combined to accurately model fatigue at high and low relative stress intensity. It was shown that ductile 1C-PUR adhesives perform better than the brittle adhesive system under dry climates (35%-50% RH). However, for higher RH, the brittle PRF adhesive showed better performance, most probably due to a better wood-adhesive adhesion in wet climate. An average endurance limit for tensile shear stresses between 20% and 48% of the mean tensile shear strength (TSS) was estimated for the tested adhesives. It was shown that the model parameters could be linked to fundamental physical constants through the reaction kinetics approach; however, further research is needed to correlate these parameters to specimen-specific quantities.

The feasibility of using the modified Hartman–Schijve (HS) equation to analyze the fatigue fracture performance of adhesively bonded wood specimens under cyclic mode II loading was investigated in comparison with the Paris crack growth equation. Wood joints prepared with three different adhesives have been subject to cyclic Mode II testing at room-temperature (23∘C and 50% relative humidity) in a four-point End-Notched-Flexure configuration, determining the crack length from specimen compliance. It was shown, that the HS-equation can be successfully applied to adhesively bonded wood and that it successfully estimates threshold and maximum energy release rate (ERR) values for three different adhesive systems. Since a limited number of tests were performed for investigating the feasibility, scatter sources and possible scatter reduction methods are analyzed and discussed in detail. Also, a new, automated data reduction method was developed for estimating the maximum and the threshold ERR (G _thr) values. The main advantage of the HS-equation appears to be the application in design standards. However, before the maximum ERR and G _thr values derived here can be used in design applications or for drafting a design guideline, additional testing is required for understanding how the number of cycles, the related measurement resolution; the corresponding ERR value influence the threshold value G _thr and how and to what extent its scatter can be reduced; and to further explore the link between cyclic ERR and the critical ERR value measured during quasi-static fracture tests.