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Soft-rot testing. Memo to CEN
1983 - IRG/WP 2206 A
1. Development of a single test procedure to assess performance of preservatives against soft rot fungi is an ideal that cannot be realised at present, if results are to be both reproducible between laboratories and pertinent to the practical requirements of individual countries. 2. Consensus opinion amongst members of Sub Group I - Soft rot tests, of Working Group II - Fundamentals of Testing, of the IRG, is that the immediate needs of CEN would be best answered by: (a) a code of recommended practice, (b) a multiplicity of test procedures, and (c) a degree of flexibility in test procedures. 3. The code of recommended practice should recognise the need for: (a) a pure culture, synthetic medium (sand or vermiculite + nutrients), single wood species test to be adopted by all laboratories as a common reference point of testing, (b) mixed inoculum and/or unsterile soil laboratory or fungus cellar tests which account for local variations in the fungal flora, (c) incorporation of a range of wood species where applicable (i.e. where mixed hardwoods comprise the main resource), (d) provision of local internal standards of known performance under field conditions, (e) incorporation of leaching procedures other than standard methods with deionized water (e.g. mild acid, milk alkali, ionic solutions of various salts) where applicable to local exposure conditions, (f) precise definition of the criteria used for establishing toxic thresholds (mass loss, strength loss, microscopic examination). 4. Initial screening tests should remain the province of the individual research worker. 5. The code of recommended practice should have the sole purpose of establishing provisional retention levels for subsequent confirmation by field trial. 6. IRG should list and approve test procedures considered adequate to establish toxic thresholds for preservatives against soft rot fungi. 7. It should be clearly understood that when using a series of test techniques, it is inevitable that a range of toxic thresholds will be obtained for the same preservative. 8. Guidelines should be drawn up for interpretation of test data for subsequent transformation to provisional retention levels. 9. Adoption of the broad principles outlines above is recognition of the dynamic nature of toxic thresholds. The additional information obtained by a more flexible, and complex, approach to testing may make interpretation more difficult but should provide data from which response of preservatives to varying biological and environmental hazards can be more realistically assessed. 10. It is recommended that CEN adopt, in principle, the basic philosophy of testing outlined above and move towards formulation of a Working Document in collaboration with IRG
J A Butcher, D J Dickinson


The ground proximity decay test method
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20205
A decay field test method, which has been recently proposed for the standardization by the AWPA, is described for evaluating the relative performance of wood samples in a severe above ground situation exposed to the weather. Data is presented on the relative performance of untreated control samples and standard preservative systems exposed at the same site at different time periods, or at differen...
A F Preston, P J Walcheski, K J Archer, A R Zahora, L Jin


Permeability measurements on surface layers for detecting wood with abnormally high permeability
1988 - IRG/WP 2298
Wet storage of timber during the warm period of the year may lead to an increased permeability of the wood, an undesirable phenomenon for several wood industries and also for many end-uses. Neither before nor after drying, such wood with "wet storage damage" can be visually distinguished from wood with a normal permeability. A non-destructive method for inspecting the permeability of surface layer...
J B Boutelje, G Hägglund


Glue-line additives for protecting plywood. A review
1978 - IRG/WP 2102
The conclusions of this review are: 1) Insecticidal glue-line additives can be used satisfactorily to protect plywood against insect attack. 2) It is uncertain, in spite of some claims, wether fungicidal glue-line additives can be similarly used to protect plywood against fungi under damp conditiones. There is a need for further work to validate the mycological tests that may be used to investigat...
R Cockcroft


A field study on the suitability of the European lap-joint test
2001 - IRG/WP 01-20239
Within the framework of the European SM&T Research Project "Co-normative research on field tests for wood preservatives out of ground contact in conjunction with methods for preconditioning test specimens prior to test" (FACT) one aim was to establish the suitability of the European lap-joint test (as it is described in ENV 12037:1996) to assess wood preservatives in the field in EHC 3. Scots ...
M Grinda, Ö Bergman, H-V Borck, D Dickinson, P Esser, R Gründlinger, H Leithoff, S Molnar, L Paajanen, N Pfabigan, E D Suttie, F Thomassin, T Nilsson, J Van Acker, M Van Der Zee, A Voss


The effect of moisture content on the electrical resistance of timber as detected by a pulsed current reistance meter (Shigometer)
1984 - IRG/WP 2212
The literature concerning the use of the Shigometer® for detecting decay in standing trees and wood poles is reviewed and the differences of opinion over the effect of timber moisture content on electrical resistance are highlighted. A simple experiment designed to test this effect is described and the implications of the results for testing poles in service are discussed. There was a large diffe...
P I Morris, D J Dickinson


Accelerated testing for out of ground contact using natural biological preconditioning: Part 2
1997 - IRG/WP 97-20108
Small blocks of scots pine sapwood were treated, buried in vermiculite and exposed to natural microbial colonisation during outdoor exposure prior to laboratory decay testing. An EN 84-type leach trial was carried out on unexposed samples. Periodic microbial isolations, moisture content, permeability and weight loss tests were also conducted. The experiment ran for 12 months. The colonisation of t...
S Molnar, D J Dickinson, R J Murphy


Influence of the content of organic matter of soil on the degradation of wood by soft rot fungi
1970 - IRG/WP 27
The degradation of wood specimen burried in the soil by soft rot fungi is influenced by a number of factors. These are in particular the water holding capacity, water content, content of organic matter, pH, content of mineral nutritive substances etc. The results of the interlaboratory tests, carried out within the IRG/WP let presume that the intensity of wood degradation occurs proportionally inv...
O Wälchli


The development of a field testing technique using Coptotermes lacteus mounds in Australia
1985 - IRG/WP 1270
A method to rapidly screen potential bait substrates placed around Coptotermes lacteus mounds is described. A perforated P.V.C. conduit is buried in a shallow trench in a rectangular arrangement around an active mound. Seven P.V.C. holders containing cork baits are inserted vertically into the conduit around the mound. Within three weeks following installation of the baits around five mound coloni...
J R J French, P J Robinson


Formosan Subterranean Termite Resistance to Heat Treatment of Scots Pine and Norway Spruce
2003 - IRG/WP 03-40264
New challenges to the durability of wood building materials have arisen in the U.S. The Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki) now infests sizable portions of the U.S. south and their range is extending. Heat treatments offer a unique opportunity for wood-based composites because many of the process techniques already employ various thermal applications and could be easil...
W R Smith, A O Rapp, C R Welzbacher, J E Winandy


Moisture content and other tested values in. Double layer tests of different size in Lithuania and Germany
2004 - IRG/WP 04-20299
The paper presents measurement results of moisture content and the analysis of durability trial of double layer wood in variants of varying size, conducted in Girionys, Kaunas distr., Lithuania and in Hamburg, Germany. In this trial 3 sample sets of varying size, containing 25, 50 and 100 specimens, are used. The aim of this trial is to ascertain an optimal number of test specimens. The dynamics o...
J Saladis, A O Rapp


Melamine resins as preservatives results of biological testing
1996 - IRG/WP 96-40061
Based on previous work of the authors on resins, the upgrading of wood with a true solution of a methanol etherificated melamine resin in low aqueous concentration was performed. For the relative assessment of the biological resistance against brown and white-rot fungi were used not only untreated controls of pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.), but also heartwood of European larch (Larix decidua M...
A O Rapp, R-D Peek


A review of the current status of the estimation of emissions from preserved wood and their use in the environmental risk assessment of wood preservatives under the Biocidal Products Directive
2005 - IRG/WP 05-50224-7
A review and update of the status of the issues concerning the estimation of emissions from preserved wood (e.g. amendments to the proposed ‘OECD Guidelines’), and the environmental risk assessment of wood preservatives under the Biocidal Products Directive (e.g. compartmental sizes, emissate ecotoxicity testing)....
E F Baines


The use of lap-joints in natural durability testing: moisture content development during 36 months outside exposure trials
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20217
Lap-joint trials (following European Standard ENV 12037) were set up with 11 different softwood and hardwood species. The main aim was to evaluate the suitability of this test standard (developed for testing wood preservative effectiveness) for natural durability testing. The moisture development has been followed during a 36 months period. In this paper, the outcomes of different moisture content...
H Militz, C J Bloom


Collaborative soft rot tests: Specific gravity loss resulting from soft rot
1973 - IRG/WP 227
It was proposed at the 5th meeting of Working Group II of the IRG in June 1973 in Lahti, Finland, that the specific gravity (swollen volume basis) of test blocks used in the IRG Collaborative Soft Rot Tests should be determined on all the blocks at the completion of the exposure period. Specific gravity determined on the basis of the oven dry weight and water swollen volume was selected because (1...
C R Levy


Co-operative tests concerning the influence of solvent and drying method on the toxic limit of wood preservatives against Coniophora cerebella
1972 - IRG/WP 216
In the working group II of the IRG it was agreed that more knowledge was necessary concerning the influence of the solvent on the toxic limit of organic solvent types of wood preservatives against Basidiomycetes. A test program was drawn up and after discussion in the mentioned working group the final program was accepted by the co-operating institutes in 1969. In the test program two fungicides, ...
T Hof


Bethoguard; A new wood protecting fungicide for use in metal free ground contact wood preservatives
2002 - IRG/WP 02-30301
Research has identified the limitations in both the spectrum of activity and permanence of organic biocides placed in wood in high hazard environments, particularly in the absence of heavy metals such as copper. More specifically, the control of soft rot decay in wood in soil contact has proven to be most problematic. The new organic biocide, Bethoguard; an oxathiazine, has demonstrated excellen...
S C Forster, G R Williams, M Van Der Flaas, M Bacon, J Gors


Soft rot - Soil burial - Tests. Influence of the addition of nitrogen compounds to the soil on wood decay by soft rot
1972 - IRG/WP 213
The decay of wood specimens buried in soil is influenced by various factors. Decisive are the water content, the content of organic substances, the pH-value, the content of mineral nutritive salts, nitrogen content, etc. of the soil. These tests were carried out in order to investigate if the decay of wood in the soil will be influenced by additions of various nitrogen-compounds in different conce...
O Wälchli


Suitability of different termite species for laboratory testing
1982 - IRG/WP 1159
Different termite species were tested in the laboratory to evaluate the effectiveness of insecticides and wood preservatives in wood against termite attack. Determined were the optimum group size and composition, the matrix (vermiculite) volume and its moisture content. Choice feeding tests with fully impregnated wood blocks which are carried out according to a modified EN 117 procedure for Reticu...
U Kny, H Kühne


Examination of power poles by computerized tomography
1980 - IRG/WP 2142
The technique known as computed axial tomography (CAT or CT) has become widely known because of the success it has achieved in medical imaging and diagnostics. It has now been used to give non-destructive crosssectional pictures of a variety of industrial objects, including wooden power poles, with a spatial resolution of about 1 mm (0.04 in.). It is obvious the benefits that would be derived from...
J A Taylor, I L Morgan, H Ellinger


Methods of testing anti-stain chemicals for protecting sawn timber during storage and transport
1976 - IRG/WP 273
No international standard method for testing anti-stain chemicals for protecting fresh sawn timber exists. The methods used can be divided into three types: a) Rapid screening tests for finding chemicals effective against blue-stain and mould fungi. The chemicals are tested in agar medium, in pieces of filter paper or on small pieces of wood using pure cultures. b) Laboratory tests for evaluating ...
T Vihavainen


A non-destructive testing technique for wood poles
1987 - IRG/WP 2293
A method has been developed to evaluate the stiffness and condition of a wood pole based on structural dynamics. This paper describes the results of tests performed on nearly 200 wood utility poles across Western Canada. A high correlation exists between the dynamic non-destructive test and direct mechanical tests. The need for an accurate non-destructive testing technique is demonstrated by the f...
W M Murphy, D E Franklin, R A Palylyk


A new process for in situ polymerization of vinyl monomers in wood to delay boron leaching
1998 - IRG/WP 98-40110
Efforts were accelerated on effective use of boron compounds in wood preservation owing to their environmentally safe characteristics and relatively low costs in addition to their well-known high bioactivity and fire resistant properties. Although having these unique favorable properties, they are readily leachable from treated wood at humid conditions. Therefore, they had limited market for exter...
M K Yalinkilic, W Dwianto, Y Imamura, M Takahashi


Sub-group on Basidiomycete tests: Experimental programme and schedule of participants
1980 - IRG/WP 2145
The objectives of this IRG COLLABORATIVE BASIDIOMYCETE TEST are to compare results and assess reproducibility of a miniaturised wood block toxicity test when undertaken by different workers in different laboratories. The co-operative scientists and institutes are: Dr K Messner from Vienna (Austria); Dr R S Smith from Forintek (Canada); Mr J Hansen from Sadolins (Denmark); Mr B Jensen from Gori (De...
A F Bravery


Resistance of board materials against fungal decay: A comparative experiment on Kolle flask tests method and direct test method
1985 - IRG/WP 2243
Two sets of plywood (Aucoumea klaineana Pierre) 7 and 11 ply, treated by two preservatives, and untreated, were tested by two methods: 1. Kolle flask test method on malt-agar substrate according to the French standard NF B 51.295; 2. A direct test method in non sterile conditions according to DocNo: IRG/WP/2214. The exposure time far both methods was 12 weeks. After exposure, the degree of attack ...
G R Y Déon, L N Trong


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