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The use of new, aqueous chemical wood modifications to improve the durability of wood-plastic composites
2017 - IRG/WP 17-40787
The wood flour used in wood-plastic composites (WPCs) can biologically deteriorate and thus the overall mechanical performance of WPCs decrease when exposed to moisture and fungal decay. Protecting the wood flour by chemical modification can improve the durability of the wood in a nontoxic way so it is not harmful to the environment. WPCs were made with modified wood flour and then evaluated for m...
R E Ibach, C M Clemons, G C Chen


Decay resistance of beams made from thermally modified Scots pine and Norway spruce after 6 years’ exposure in ground contact
2017 - IRG/WP 17-40806
In the present study the resistance of beams treated by ThermoWood® process was studied in ground contact and the results given are based on a “modified” EN 252 test. After six years’ exposure clear differences were found between untreated Scots pine and Norway spruce beams and treated ones. In all cases thermal modification improved the performance. Thermally modified pine heartwood showed...
S Metsä-Kortelainen, H Viitanen


Decay resistance variability of European wood species thermally modified by industrial process
2017 - IRG/WP 17-40807
Thermal modification is now considered as a new ecofriendly industrial wood modification process improving mainly the material decay resistance and its dimensional stability. Most industrial thermal treatment processes use convection heat transfer which induces sometimes heterogeneous treatment temperature propagation within the oven and lead to the heterogeneity in treatment efficiency. Thus, it ...
K Candelier, L Pignolet, S Lotte, A Guyot, E Cuny, B Bousseau, M-F Thévenon


Effects of exposure time on detection of the behavior of white-rot fungi on Oriental beech wood properties
2017 - IRG/WP 17-10902
The comparison of fungal degradation of Orientalis beechwood by two white-rot fungi was evaluated in this study. Biological, mechanical, and chemical assessments of beech wood were carried out at 30 day interval for 120 days. The results demonstrated that both fungi have greater effects on beech wood during each exposure time. However, Trametes versicolor degraded beech wood more effectively than ...
E Bari, D D Nicholas, K M Ohno


Imports of African logs, do they harbor wood-decaying alien fungi and bacteria that could become a potential threat at temperate latitudes? – First results
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10904
In this project we investigate the potential threat of alien wood-decaying fungal and bacterial species imported to Germany with logs from African countries. In a first approach we analysed fungal species on imported logs by identification of fruit bodies by DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions ITS1 and ITS2. First results revealed the existence of at least one alien fun...
J Trautner, M Höpken, E Melcher


Enhancing Our Understanding of Brown Rot Mechanisms through Catalytic Pretreatment and Cellulase Cocktail
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10909
A catalytic mechanism, described as the “chelator-mediated Fenton” (CMF) mechanism, is proposed to mimic the non-enzymatic action of brown rot fungi. A CMF treatment was used together with an enzymatic cocktail to study how wood was deconstructed and solubilized. This was done in-part to determine if the treatment mimicked the action of brown rot fungi, but also to explore improved treatment p...
S Tabor, L Orjuela, D Contreras, G Alfredsen, J Jellison, S Renneckar, B Goodell


Biocontrol of wood decay insects and nematodes as an alternative to traditional chemical treatments
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10914
The protection of wood has been defined until relatively recently, as the application of a chemical to increase its durability. On the other hand, society is becoming more and more demanding in terms of the use of products which have the minimum ecological impact. This has led many countries to reduce the list of biocidal products that can be used (European Biocides Regulation), therefore it is ne...
L Robertson, J F Galván, F Llinares, R Viñambres, M T de Troya


Liquefied wood polyols: Ecofriendly bio-based preservative for sustainable protection of wood from Termite attack
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10916
The major problems encountered in both indoor and outdoor utilization of wood are biological decay due to termite. The modification of wood with liquefied wood polyols has been found to be effective against termite attack. The liquefaction of wood aims to utilize woody wastes which are being generated during primary and secondary processing of wood in wood based industry. One of promising approach...
A Kumar, A John, T S Mehra, A K Pandey, S Singh Chauhan


Preliminary Investigation into the Natural Decay Resistance of Nigerian Grown Hevea brasiliensis and Mitragyna ciliata wood to Phanerochaete chrysosporium White-Rot Fungus
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10919
Wood is an important and versatile structural building material that finds applications in numerous uses. However, wood is also a biological material vulnerable to degradation by microbial activities; this is especially true in the tropics. Following the scarcity of highly durable species from our natural forests and the introduction of so many lesser used/durable wood species into the booming tim...
J M Owoyemi, U O Emmanuel


Understanding of the effect of ancestral and natural saltwater treatment on durability, fibers densification and chemical modification of palm wood
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10921
The palm-tree sector plays a very important role on both the socioeconomic and ecological levels, in Tunisia. There are three million trees in Tunisian palm plantations, ensuring a potential significant wood production, mainly in the craft and furniture industries. In the past, Date Palm wood (Phoenix dactylifera L.,) was also used as structural material. Its low natural durability and its low m...
M T Elaieb, A Namsi, M Tella, M-F Thévenon, K Chandelier


Impact of sapwood portions on the durability of adjacent heartwood of Pinus sylvestris, Pseudotsuga menziesii and Quercus robur. Part 1: Laboratory studies
2018 - IRG/WP 18-10922
Sapwood is generally considered as non-durable and assigned to durability class DC 5 according to European standards independent from the wood species. It is commonly agreed that sapwood decays faster than adjacent heartwood, but it is controversially discussed whether sapwood serves as feeder material and thus accelerates onset and progress of decay in more durable heartwood or decays independent...
C Brischke, P Homann, A Gellerich


In-service performance of wood claddings and windows – a Norwegian survey
2018 - IRG/WP 18-20632
The overall aim of the study was to strengthen the empirical data on decay frequency and in-service performance of claddings and windows in Norway. Data from a survey of claddings and windows from 38 Norwegian houses is presented. The main findings for wooden claddings: 1) predominance of decay was detected in east facing claddings, while the largest decayed areas were located on south facing clad...
L Ross Gobakken, G Alfredsen


Can CCA be substituted as reference preservative?
2018 - IRG/WP 18-20641
While field testing of wood protective formulations remains probably the best method to find out the effective preservative concentration, the use of chrome-copper arsenate (CCA) as reference becomes debatable due to environmental and legislative reasons. This emerges from the European standardization bodies who have discussed reference alternatives that can omit the use of CCA. The present debate...
N Terziev, M Jebrane, P Larsson Brelid, N Morsing, P-O Flaete, P Torniainen, J S Kim, G Daniel


Premature failure of wood structures in Use Class 3 caused by decay - some examples from Norway
2018 - RG/WP 18-20643
The Nordic Wood Preservation Council (NWPC) has since 1976 had a standard for classification of preservative treated wood, documents describing conditions for approval of preservatives for industrial use and requirements for quality control of preservative treated wood. Last year, 2017, the NWPC extended the quality system to include natural durability (heartwood) and modified wood. The objecti...
P-O Flaete


Liquefied wood polyols: a bio-based preservative for protection of wood from fungal decay
2018 - IRG/WP 18-30725
The liquefaction of wood is one of promising approaches in utilization of woody waste which is generated during primary and secondary processing of wood and liquefied wood having various application including bio-based preservatives. The biological degradation of wood due to fungi is the major problem encountered in indoor and outdoor utilization of wood. In this study, woody waste recovered from ...
A Kumar, G Vijaylakshmi, S Singh Chauhan


Glueline fungicides in veneer based engineered wood products – updated results from laboratory work for the H1.2 hazard class in New Zealand
2018 - IRG/WP 18-30726
Results from New Zealand H1.2 ‘bin’ trials containing plywood glueline treated with triadimefon and cyproconazole were reported in 2012 (IRG/WP 12-30593). One of these trials has continued to the present day (2108) and updated results of this trial are reported. The triadimefon and cyproconazole glueline treatment continues to compare with, or outperform, the reference preservative used, bei...
A Siraa, K Day, B Kibby


Recent findings clarifying the mechanism of brown-rot decay protection in acetylated wood
2018 - IRG/WP 18-40827
This paper summarizes the findings obtained during my PhD research over the past three years. The results provide insights which help to understand the enhanced brown-rot decay resistance of acetylated wood with particular emphasis on the role of water. The protection acetylation provides is derived from moisture exclusion within the acetylated cell wall, but the exact mechanism by which water is ...
G Beck


Difference of wood decay manner between brown-rot species
2019 - IRG/WP 19-10938
Wood blocks (Cryptomeria japonica) which were decayed by a Polyporales white-rot fungus (Trametes versicolor) and brown-rot fungi (Fomitopsis palustris, F. pinicola, and Wolfiporia cocos), respectively, were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopic methods followed by multivariate analysis. In the analyses, the differences in the cellulose crystallinities and infrared spectral patt...
R Kondo, Yo Horikawa, S Nakaba, K Ando, M Yoshida


Performance of untreated timbers in above ground decking tests: Preliminary results from an international collaborative trial
2019 - IRG/WP 19-10940
The ability to accurately predict wood decay risks under varying environmental conditions has long been of interest to timber users. Accurate predictions are difficult owing to the myriad of variables associated with the decay process including wood species, wood inhabiting organisms, timber building element design and environmental conditions. Despite these difficulties, decay predictions have be...
L P Francis, J Norton, E Melcher, A H H Wong, J Kok Lai, M Klamer, M J Konkler, J J. Morrell


Decay and water resistance of Siberian and European larch wood
2019 - IRG/WP 19-10941
The occurrence of larch wood is rather frequent in civil engineering. Namely, in building façades, terraces and balcony fences. In Slovenia and other central European countries, the use of the Siberian larch is especially popular. In this research, the durability against decay fungi in laboratory conditions and water exclusion ability of plantation-grown and naturally grown Siberian larch (Larix ...
B Lesar, D Krzisnik, M Humar


Diversity of wood decay fungi isolated from ground-contact wood stakes in Korea
2019 - IRG/WP 19-10952
This study was conducted to investigate wood decay fungi from 5 different ground-contact wood stakes in Korea. A total of 73 basidiomycetes were isolated and identified into 20 genera and 22 species by using molecular method. Among all fungi, only 6 species were brown-rot fungi and the others were white-rot fungi. Pinus densiflora and Quercus variabilis showed high fungal diversity and isolation f...
S-M Yoon, M-J Kim, W-J Hwang, Y-S Choi, D-W Son


Performance of wood decking after 5 years of exposure: verification of the combined effect of wetting ability and durability
2019 - IRG/WP 19-20647
Wood is one of the most important construction materials and its use in building applications has further expanded in recent decades. In order to enable even more extensive and reliable use of wood, factors affecting wood’s service life need to be understood. More recently, a new concept to characterize the durability of wood-based materials and to predict the service lives of wood was proposed,...
M Humar, D Krzisnik, B Lesar, C Brischke


Durability by design – a case study of the performance of wooden decks after 9.5 years of natural weathering
2019 - IRG/WP 19-20648
The service life expected for wood decking manufactured with poorly durable wood species, left untreated and exposed to severe environmental conditions such as high humidity and active biological agents, is usually assumed to be short (less than 10 years). The current classification of wood’s natural durability is based on EN standardised tests which do not fully reflect the real end-use conditi...
M Kutnik, M Montibus


Quantifying the effect of microclimatic parameters on the moisture-induced decay risk of wooden structures
2019 - IRG/WP 19-20649
Wood exposed outdoors is prone to fungal degradation. Besides its material-inherent resistance, numerous factors are impacting on its service life with both, climate and design having a major effect. In addition, topography, shading, wind barriers, and other local parameters have an effect on the microclimatic conditions at site and therefore need to be quantified for service life prediction of wo...
L Emmerich, C Brischke


Visual assessment of longitudinal wheel timbers and assessing the feasibility of extending wheel timber service life in the UK railway network
2019 - IRG/WP 19-20651
Timber has been a versatile building material for centuries and during the start of the Railway Age in the nineteenth century it was in considerable demand for use in the railway network, particularly bridge building. Timber is still in service and widely used throughout the UK railway network. The resilience and favourable strength to weight ratio and its relative ease of fabrication make it an...
J R Williams


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