Your search resulted in 221 documents. Displaying 25 entries per page.
Cost effective extension of service life of bridge tie (sleepers) - Effectively applying borate during Boulton conditioning and treatment with copper naphthenate
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30637
Current longevity of creosote treated wooden bridge ties in the South Eastern US is about 15 to 25 years, which is well below of the average service life of 33-50 years of railroad ties. Such short service life increases costs associated with maintenance of railroads including bridge down time for tie replacement as well as the cost for the new ties themselves. Because of this, many railroads are...
J D Lloyd, T Chambers, J-W Kim
Copper naphthenate treatment for wood crossties and timbers
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30647
Copper naphthenate (CuN) has a long history in wood preservation and is recently finding increased usage as a treatment for wooden crossties and timbers. One of the principal reasons that CuN has gained market acceptance, in addition to its efficacy against decay fungi and wood-destroying insects, is its low mammalian toxicity and environmental impact. CuN is a well proven non-restricted use pres...
J Brient
Commercial Timbers of Kenya
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10876
The global timber trade has for years been too familiar with an assortment of available African timbers, reputed for their appearance in terms of colour, grain, pattern and durability. African forests are fast disappearing through over-exploitation as a result of demand for agricultural land. Kenya, the home of some of these valuable hardwoods, has been similarly affected, with its forest land cov...
R Venkatasamy
A Treatability Study of Western Wood Species with Water Based Azoles and Insecticides Using Buffered Amine Oxides
2016 - IRG/WP 16-40766
The use of Western U.S. Wood Species remains small in today’s global wood product market when compared to the use of other commercially available softwoods. One reason that other fiber sources, those that may be less naturally durable or exhibit slightly inferior mechanical properties, are utilized is ease of treatment. In an attempt to ensure adequate penetration in commercially important an...
R W Clawson Jr, C N Cheeks, K A Cutler
Field Performance of Refractory Species Treated with MCA
2017 - IRG/WP 17-30706
Micronized copper azole (MCA) has been used extensively over the past decade to preserve southern pine, and other wide sapwood species. Treatment of refractory species is less common, in part due to concerns about treatability and resulting efficacy. To address these concerns, white spruce and Pacific silver fir stakes, and lodgepole pine and red pine posts, were pressure-treated with multiple ret...
R Stirling, J K Ingram, P I Morris
Borate and Copper Naphthenate Dual Treatment of Bridge Timbers-Borate movement over time
2017 - IRG/WP 17-40795
Preservative treated wooden bridge ties in the South Eastern USA have a service life of about 15 to 20 years, which falls well below the average service life of 40 years of railroad cross ties (sleepers). It has been shown that cross tie life is significantly extended using borate dual treatment and this is now commercialized in bridge timbers using borate inserts. In previous research, it was dem...
J-W Kim, J D Lloyd
Dual Borate and Copper Naphthenate Treatment of Bridge Timbers:- Potential Performance Enhancements and Cost Savings
2017 - IRG/WP 17-40797
Dual treatment technology combining diffusible preservatives with oil borne preservatives, widely used for crossties in the USA, has now also been commercialized with bridge ties/timbers. In order to understand the implications of these changes, the historic service life of creosote treated bridge timbers in northern and southeastern USA were considered as well as field test data for both creosote...
J Lloyd, C Brischke, R Bennett, A Taylor
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
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
Protecting Sustainable Wood Infrastructure ̶ Improving the Performance of Poles, Piles, Ties & Timbers with Dual Treatments
2019 - IRG/WP 19-30735
Wood is by far the best structural material in terms of environmental impact, as shown by a number of LCA studies. This environmental impact superiority can be improved if the longevity of the commodity is extended. The main durability concern in large cross-section treated materials is the susceptibility of the heartwood to decay, as it is not typically treatable using traditional methods. This ...
J Lloyd, A Taylor, C Brischke, N Irby, M Manning
Treatability of native and exotic alternative timber species
2019 - IRG/WP 19-40864
The service life of moderately durable species can be extended significantly if the challenge of effective treatment of refractory wood species can be overcome. Along with preservative effectiveness, the performance of preservative in treated wood depends on factors such as retention and penetration in treated wood, the wood anatomy, the uniformity of penetration and micro-distribution within the ...
D Page, T Singh
Longterm Performance of Treated Timbers in Marine Exposures
2020 - IRG/WP 20-10969
The performance of preservative-treated or modified woods in marine exposures was evaluated at test sites in Newport, Oregon, USA and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. All samples have exhibited excellent performance at the Newport, Oregon site, while attack was more aggressive at the sub-tropical Brisbane site. Acetylated wood as well as samples treated with 7.3% chromated copper arsenate (CCA-T...
M Konkler, A R Zahora, J Norton, J J Morrell
Sterilization of Large Timbers during Preservative Treatment: How Quickly We Forget
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40902
Air seasoning is a common method of moisture management in utility poles and is done de facto during pole storage prior to treatment. However, extended air drying prior to treatment encourages fungal attack and can facilitate establishment of decay fungi in poles before a protective preservative barrier is applied. This problem can be mitigated by proper air-seasoning methods coupled with heat ste...
G Presley, J Cappellazzi, M Konkler, K Maguire, R Nelson, J J Morrell
Enhancing the durability of low durability Eucalyptus plantation species: a review of strategies
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40910
Eucalyptus species native to Australia have shown excellent growth rates, good physical properties and resistance to diseases. As a result, they are widely planted globally for a variety of uses. One negative aspect of many of these faster growing species is that they have a high percentage of low durability heartwood that resists preservative treatment. In Australia, large plantations of these sp...
K C Wood, J J Morrell, W Leggate
Effect of furfurylation treatment on the performance of three Canadian wood species
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40925
The demand for exterior wood siding is stagnating in North America, partly due to the perception of consumers, architects and contractors regarding their durability and maintenance. Improving attributes such as the dimensional stability of wood is therefore necessary to make it more attractive to consumers. This project aims to assess the performance of Canadian species; white spruce (Picea glauca...
G Boivin, D Schorr
Susceptibility of selected Australian commercial timbers to West Indian drywood termite Cryptotermes brevis
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11003
West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis) is a globally distributed timber pest and is invasive in Queensland, Australia, causing widespread damage to structures and large economic impacts in control and repair costs. Despite this, the knowledge of which specific timbers are susceptible to attack is limited and requires investigation. Two six-week feeding trials were performed, exposing se...
W Haigh, R A Hayes, B Hassan
Long-term Performance of Treated Timbers in a Sub-tropical Marine Exposure
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11015
The long-term performance of preservative-treated and modified wood in marine exposures was assessed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. This report describes the final destructive assessment of the surviving Australian panels after 11 years of exposure. This site presents the potential for attack by shipworms (likely Bankia spp.), pholads (Martesia striata), Limnoria and Sphaeroma terebrans. Mos...
E L Galore, J Norton, A Zahora
Establishing the minimum effective penetration of wood preservatives in the refractory heartwood of E. nitens
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30780
Conventional pressure treatment of many Australian hardwoods results in little to no penetration of heartwood and a non-uniform envelope treatment of <5 mm surrounding a mostly untreated core. This is a major issue for many of the low durability plantation hardwood timbers that are grown in Tasmania, which contain high percentages of heartwood. Long term studies on softwoods such as spruce decking...
J R Vargas, J J Morrell, L Yermán, K C Wood
Investigating wood anatomical factors influencing the treatability of refractory southern pine- an imaging approach
2023 - IRG/WP 23-40975
Southern pine sapwood is non-durable, and preservative treatment is necessary to protect it against biological degradation. According to AS 1604.1 2021, timber products must have their sapwood fully treated with preservatives for various applications and hazard classes. However, there is a growing industry concern over the refractory sections of sapwood, which are untreated pockets of wood that do...
M Shirmohammadi, M R Karbaschi, B Hassan, W Leggate
Evaluation of the effectiveness of soaking of high-temperature plywood in low-temperature oil-based wood
2023 - IRG/WP 23-40991
We conducted a preliminary investigation to determine if soaking high-temperature plywood in a low-temperature preservative solution could achieve deeper penetration of the preservative, even in plywood made with refractory wood species such as Japanese larch. Specimens cut from commercial plywood (Japanese larch) were stored at various temperatures before being soaked in the preservative solution...
T Miyauchi, S Isaji, H Shibui, N Furuta, J Miyazaki, H Matusnaga
Leaching and chemical redistribution of CCA components in refractory heartwood of E. nitens
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41011
Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) is a wood preservative widely used to protect against fungal and insect attack. The fixation mechanism of CCA involves complex chemical reactions, including the reduction of chromium (VI) to chromium (III) and the formation of insoluble complexes. Despite fixation efforts, a portion of CCA components tends to leach from treated wood, influenced by factors like wood ...
J R Vargas, L Yermán, K C Wood, T Singh