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Predicting the Rate of Decay, and the Potential for Misinterpretation of Proper Scientific Method
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20525
Predicting the rate of fungal attack in wood-based materials and its effect on properties remains the holy grail of wood products pathologists; however, achieving this goal is difficult because of the many variables associated with the process. This paper reviews some of the more important aspects of the decay process in relation to test methodology and then discusses how data are sometimes used b...
B S Goodell, J J Morrell


Cell wall properties of softwood deteriorated by fungi: combined chemical analyses, FT-IR spectroscopy, nanoindentation and micromechanical modelling
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20527
Mechanical properties of wood are determined by its inherent hierarchical microstructure, starting at the nanometer scale, where the elementary components cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin build up the wood cell wall material. Fungi cause degradation and decomposition of these components and, thus, alter the mechanical properties of wood. The aim of this study is to gain new insight into these...
L Wagner, T K Bader, K de Borst, T Ters, K Fackler


Development of a rapid method to assess the rate of fungal colonization of wood
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20531
Testing of wood durability is today done mainly with accelerated exposure tests under rather realistic conditions (in ground, outdoors with moisture traps etc). Although such tests are accelerated with respect to the conditions that outdoor exposed wood structures are exposed to, they tend to take rather long time. The present paper presents the development of a rapid method intended to assess at ...
L Wadsö


Fungal laccases as a tool for wood functionalization
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20533
Wood degrading fungi are the most important production organisms for laccase, a promising oxidative biocatalyst with numerous biotechnological applications in the forest products industry. Laccases are multi-copper containing oxidases (EC 1.10.3.2), which catalyse mono-electronic oxidation of phenols, polyphenols and anilines at the expense of molecular oxygen. Interest in these essentially ‘eco...
M Schubert


Micronized Copper Wood Preservatives: Strong Indications of the Reservoir Effect
2013 - IRG/WP 13-30609
Micronized copper wood preservative systems were launched commercially in May 2006. Now, over 75% of the residential lumber produced in the USA is treated with micronized wood preservative formulations. Although considered controversial at first, the mode of action of micronized copper has been clearly defined by multiple authors over the years, as well as a need for a co-biocide in water-borne sy...
M H Freeman, C R McIntyre


The Concept of Copper and Boron Synergy: Why Copper Naphthenate and Borates are a Couple Made in Heaven
2013 - IRG/WP 13-30622
Fungicides are often combined for four basic reasons:(1) to widen the spectrum of the fungicidal activity in which to broaden the spectrum of activity, (2) to exploit additive and synergistic activities between actives, and the activities are increased and thereby reducing the needs for the higher loadings of the active in the substrate, (3) to delay the resistance of one of the actives in the for...
M H Freeman


Application of a model for the prediction of fungal degradation of thermally modified beech timber by Trametes versicolor
2013 - IRG/WP 13-40622
Colour measurement technology is found to be feasible for characterization of the property changes of thermally modified timber (TMT). In opposite to time-consuming and expensive laboratory tests a non-destructive test represents an improvement for the manufacturer of TMT. Therefore the aim of this study was to develop a method which allows sorting the different treatment intensities after the man...
Clauder, L., Richter S., Unger, W., Pfriem, A


Influence of Heat Treatment Medium on Fungal Resistance of Beech Wood
2013 - IRG/WP 13-40643
Hydrothermal treatment of beech wood (Fagus orientalis) performed in acidic, neutral and alkaline buffered mediums in 160 and 180°C. White rot fungi (Coriolus versicolor) and brown rot fungi (Coniophora puteana) were used to determine the influence of heat treatment mediums on the behaviour of fungal resistance. White rot of wood digest lignin rather than cellulose; while brown rot digests the ce...
A Talaei, A Karimi, M-F Thévenon


Moisture and Fungal Durability of Wood-Plastic Composites Made With Chemically Modified and Treated Wood Flour
2013 - IRG/WP 13-40648
Evaluating the fungal durability of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) is complicated by the influence of slow moisture sorption. Recently, the American Wood Protection Association (AWPA) Standard Method E10, Testing Wood Preservatives by Laboratory Soil-Block Cultures, was modified to incorporate not only solid wood, but also wood-based composites and WPCs. To simulate long term WPC performance, cond...
B K Segerholm, R E Ibach


Communities of mold fungi in moisture damaged building materials
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20542
The critical conditions needed for the development of mould and decay fungi have been modelled for different building materials. However, current knowledge of indoor microbes growing on building materials relies on culture-based methods and more advanced molecular biological techniques should be employed to study the complex microbial communities in building materials. In this paper molecular biol...
E Sohlberg, H Viitanen


Changes in mechanical and chemical properties of wood exposed outdoors
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20550
The aim of this study was to investigate differences in certain mechanical and chemical properties of three different wood species (common beach (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies), and copper-ethanolamine (CuE) impregnated Norway spruce (Picea abies)) that were exposed in use class 3 (CEN, 2006) for periods between 4 and 30 months. The results show, that changes in the investigated me...
N Thaler, C Brischke, D Žlindra, V Vek, M Humar


Screening method to test efficacy of fumigants against fungi and preliminary data on the efficacy of sulfuryl fluoride
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20551
Methyl bromide is being phased out and there is an urgent need to find a suitable replacement that is effective in reducing exotic pest establishments via trade in wood products. Efficacy data for established phytosanitary fumigants were mostly developed for arthropods and nematodes, and limited information exists for plant pathogens. Increased interest in developing a fast screening process for f...
A Uzunovic, A Mukherjee, R Mack, P Elder, S Myers


Efficacy of commercial wood preservatives against Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, a quarantine organism in Europe
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30638
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer 1934) Nickle, 1970, pine wilt nematode (PWN), is a quarantine organism with a high potential to damage Conifer forests in Europe. This has driven the European Union to protect forest stands from the propagation and dispersion of this pathogen. Since the nematode was detected in Europe, eradication measures were taken. However, these measures were unsu...
C S Arcos, A Navas, L Robertson, M T Troya, M Conde, F Llinares


Resistance of fungal derived pigments to ultraviolet light exposure
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30642
The potential for using fungal derived pigments as surface treatments for limiting photodegradation of wood was investigated. Extracts from Chlorociboria aeruginosa and Scytalidium cuboideum were compared with a traditional aniline dye and chromic acid treatment. Hybrid poplar sapwood samples treated with these solutions were exposed to 86.4 kj/m2 of UV radiation and assessed for lignin degradatio...
H G Beck, S Freitas, G Weber, S C Robinson, J J Morrell


Improving dimensional stability of thermally treated wood by secondary modification – potential and limitations
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40664
The potential of treating thermally modified wood with melamine resin to improve the dimensional stabilization is tested in this research. Two different boards of poplar (Populus ssp.) were cut into two halves. One half of each board was thermally modified (T1 and T2) in a commercial process, the other half was used as untreated reference material. The material was thermally modified using the vac...
G Behr, K-C Mahnert, S Bollmus, H Militz


Experiences with an industrial system for controlled thermal wood modification in pressurized unsaturated steam
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40678
Thermal wood modification in pressurized reactors has a long history, but these processes are to date industrially scarcely used, because of the relatively complicated process equipment, compared to the more common high-temperature processes in kilns at atmospheric pressure. However, based on our practical experience with the FirmoLin® process, supported by recent scientific findings, it is foun...
W Willems


Douglas-fir PSL Treated with Oilborne Copper Naphthenate – Treatment Experience & Efficacy
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40687
Treating characteristics, field stake efficacy and the results from treatment trials for oilborne copper naphthenate (CuNap) and Douglas-fir parallel strand lumber (PSL) are summarized in this paper. Treatment with a P9 Type-C based solution in laboratory tests showed full cross section penetration of large cross sections could be achieved. Commercial treatment trials using a P9 Type-A solution ...
G P Merrick


Interpretation of moisture monitoring data - Relevance of moisture content thresholds for fungal decay
2015 - IRG/WP 15-10839
It is widely accepted that besides temperature wood moisture content (MC) is the key factor when it comes to durability of wooden structures exposed to weathering. Many approaches to predict the service life of wooden structures have therefore been based on using wood MC as one major input-variable to develop dose-response relationships between material climate and decay response. However, to impr...
L Meyer, C Brischke


Influence of artificial and natural weathering on water exclusion efficacy of wood
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20559
Water exclusion efficacy (WEE) is one of the most important properties of wood that contributes to the overall performance of naturally durable wood species in outdoor above ground applications. WEE is in strong correlation with moisture dynamics of wood, its hydrophobicity and can indicates susceptibility against wood decay fungi. Despite of the importance of this parameter, WEE is not completely...
M Žlahtič, M Humar


Interaction between Aspergillus niger fungus and other filamentous fungi on salt-agar medium and their growth on natural wood and wood treated with fungicide
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20569
Aspergillus niger (An) is very often used alone or in mixture with other filamentous fungi of the genus in testing biocides in disinfection procedures, safety, hygiene, medical fields as well as for testing resistance of wood and wood-based materials to moulds. Softwood species as well as hardwood are overgrown with An fungus very easily, causing drop of mainly the aesthetic value of wood product....
A Fojutowski, A Kropacz, A Koziróg


Performance of kiln-dried and air-dried anti-sapstain treated pallet timber under use scenarios against wood discolouring fungi
2015 - IRG/WP 30669
During their lifespan there is a high probability that wooden pallets and packaging material will be exposed to rainfall or rewetting conditions, increasing the risk of growth of discolouring fungi. Kiln-drying of wooden pallets and packaging material without anti-sapstain treatment does not give efficient protection against wood discolouring fungi during rewetting periods. However additional temp...
A Steitz, E Stoyanova, N Pfabigan, R Gründlinger


Search for an anti-sapstain treatment for fresh radiata pine wood in compliance with European BPD norms: Field Tests
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30673
In response to the impending restrictions on the use of pesticide active ingredients developed to control the staining of fresh wood, as a result of regulation issued in 2009 by the European Union, a project was proposed to test an alternative anti-sapstain treatment that meets both the European restrictions and the performance required for an export-quality radiata pine fresh wood treatment. A se...
P Montes C, T Hanke W


Foundation piles: analysis of beech wood decay in service life conditions
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10858
Wood piles foundation system was largely used over decades. Thus, numerous buildings over the world are based on this constructive system. In the context of reduction of CO2 emissions in the building field of constructions, substitution of concrete by wood as material for foundation piles seems to be a promising alternative. However, fluctuation of the water table level in soil may promote fungal ...
Q Kleindienst, A Besserer, M-L Antoine, C Perrin, J-F Bocquet, L Bléron


Production of reactive oxygen species in the presence of oxidized iron and oxalate under conditions mimicking brown-rot fungal degradation of wood
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10861
The biochemical role of oxalate in the fungal solubilization of iron is well known, but additional information is needed on the role that oxalate plays in the brown-rot decay of lignocellulose. In this study iron sequestration from iron and iron oxide-hydroxides was assessed with regard to the function of a chelator-mediated Fenton (CMF) reaction and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)...
Yuan Zhu, Liangpeng Zhuang, B Goodell, Jinzhen Cao, J Mahaney


Fungal decay of archaeological waterlogged oak timber: role of the mineral content
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10873
In service, wood foundation poles are subjected to water level fluctuation in soil. While wood is saturated by water only bacterial decay occurs. When oxygen content increases and moisture content decreases, severe fungal attack may occur. To evaluate the long term fungal durability of wood foundation pole in the context of service, 300 years waterlogged archaeological wood poles were used. The oa...
A Besserer, M Letellier, E Fredon, Q Kleindienst, M-L Antoine, C Perrin, J Lallemand, C Rose, M-C Trouy


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