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Fungal damages in Norwegian massive timber elements – causes and measures
2019 - IRG/WP 19-40879
Massive wood elements are relatively new in Norway but the use is growing quickly, primarily the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT). Moisture performance of massive timber elements has been examined by some researchers, but more knowledge is needed. There is uncertainty regarding the need for vapour barriers or retarders in roof assemblies, and for practical reasons buildings are rarely assembled...
M S Austigard, J Mattsson


Moisture and temperature conditions in an old, highly moisture-loaded timber building in the Røros municipality, Norway
2020 - IRG/WP 20-10966
A 150 years old log building near Røros, Norway, has been in active use as a cowshed since its erection. The animals are kept inside the cowshed all winter and this causes a situation of a high moisture load on the wooden floor, wooden walls and ceiling. Logging of temperature and humidity over one year shows that there are favourable levels of moisture in the wood and air for development of moul...
M Sand Austigard, J Mattsson


Profiling fungal degradation of Scots pine sapwood by short wave infrared hyperspectral image analysis
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20667
Hyperspectral image analysis of Scots pine sapwood wood affected by decay fungi has been carried out as part of a Ph.D. thesis within the project Remote Inspection of Wooden Utility Poles (RIWUP). In a lab experiment, Petri-dishes with Scots pine sapwood samples on malt agar medium were infected with two types of decay fungi, a brown rot and a white rot. The wood samples were scanned with a HySpe...
A Jochemsen, G Alfredsen, I Burud


Studying amount, location and state of water in modified wood at moisture levels relevant for fungal degradation
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40889
Water is an essential parameter for fungal degradation of wood, but degradation primarily occurs at high moisture levels at water potential in the range of -4 to -0.1 MPa, which corresponds to 97-99.9% relative humidity. At these moisture levels, water is present in the wood structure both in and outside of cell walls. The majority of previous studies on the interaction between wood and water for ...
M Fredriksson, E Engelund Thybring, Ramunas Digaitis


Biological durability of sapling wood
2020 - IRG/WP 20-10967
Sapling-wood products from different wood species such as willow (Salix spp.) and Common hazel (Corylus avellana) are frequently used for gardening and outdoor decoration purposes. Remaining bark is suggested to provide additional biological durability. Even for temporary outdoor use it seemed questionable that durability of juvenile sapwood can provide acceptably long service lives of horticultur...
C Brischke, L Emmerich, D G B Nienaber, S Bollmus


Modelling decay rates of timber exposed above ground on four different continents
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20670
Durability performance data from an international decking trial were analysed to explore relationships with climate variables, particularly those related to temperature and rainfall. Matched decking samples of slash pine (Pinus elliottii) sapwood and heartwood, spotted gum (Corymbia citriodora), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris) were exposed to the weather above...
L P Francis, J J Morrell, C Brischke, P B Van Niekerk, J Norton


Impact of fungal decay on the bending properties of wood
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20671
Wood used outdoors is generally prone to fungal degradation, and its impact on the structural integrity of wood is an immanent factor for service life planning with timber. Wood decayed to very small mass losses can suffer from a significant reduction in mechanical strength and elastic properties. Hence, the latter are preferred indicators to detect decay in wood durability studies. Numerous previ...
S Bollmus, P B van Niekerk, C Brischke


The role of specimen format in wood durability testing
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20672
The experimental basis for testing the biological durability of wood are often incubation experiments with wood-destroying basidiomycetes. Numerous parameters can affect the mass loss by fungal decay (MLF) in laboratory durability tests and therefore being decisive for the resulting durability classification. Among others, the dimension of the wood specimen and the time of incubation impact on fun...
C Brischke, L K Grünwald, S Bollmus


Fungal colonisations in and on industrially manufactured acetylated glulam in UC 3
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40900
This poster paper describes one of the first cases where industrially acetylated glulam was colonized by wood-destroying fungi after less than 10 years of exposure in use class 3.2. Remarkable is that fruiting bodies of white as well as brown rot fungi were found on one and the same bench element. The first visible wood destroying fungi was the white rot fungus Schizophyllum commune followed by th...
J Müller, E Melcher, T Potsch


NewSiest-Enhancement of UV stability of thermally modified wood through envelope impregnation with nanobased stabilisers
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40909
Thermal modification is a process which improves the properties of wood, resulting in a material that can be disposed at the end of the product life cycle without presenting an environmental hazard. Thermally modified wood retains as a natural product and the grain, original colour variances and characteristics of wood are still present. However, exposure to daylight causes brightening or greying ...
K Srinivasa, M Petrič


Assessing the risk of marine borer attack of the timber trestles and decay of timber above the intertidal zone of the Barmouth Viaduct
2021 - IRG/WP 21-10974
The Barmouth Viaduct is a Grade II* listed structure which carries the single track of the Dovey Junction to Pwllheli line and footway over the Mawddach estuary. It is in a marine environment where timber below the high tide mark is at most risk in Use Class 5 and all timber above in Use Class 3.2, permanently exposed to the risk of wetting. The structure consists of a timber trestle viaduct of ...
J R Williams


Evaluation of decay and energy properties from thermally modified biomasses during fungal deterioration by NIR-spectrometry
2021 - IRG/WP 21-40922
This study is focused on the prediction of fungal weight loss (WL) and high heating value (HHV) from raw and torrefied waste lignocellulosic feedstocks, according to their exposure duration to wood-destroying fungi, using near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and chemometrics models. Sugarcane bagasse, coffee husk, eucalyptus and pine shavings were torrefied at 290 °C in a screw reactor, during 5, 7...
B de Freitas Homem de Faria, P Santana Barbosa, J Valente Roque, A de Cassia Oliveira Carneiro, P Rousset, K Candelier, R F Teofilo


Aiming for eco-friendly log production and wooden construction!
2021 - IRG/WP 21-50365
In order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero by 2050 in the fields of forest and forest products, it is necessary to promote appropriate management and renewal of planted forests, and development of wooden building materials and the wooden construction of mid-to-high-rise buildings with lower GHG emissions. Unless we also try to reduce the environmental loads other than GHG for such d...
N Hattori


Dynamics of fungi colonization on the surface of Scots pine wood during natural weathering in different European climate zones
2022 - IRG/WP 22-10984
Wood The presence of fungi leads to biomaterial decay and/or changes in aesthetical appeal. The start of fungi colonization as well as the following growth on wood are primarily influenced by four factors: ambient temperature, moisture history of the object, access to oxygen, and intrinsic properties of the exposed wood, considered here as a source of nutrients for microorganisms. A prevalence of ...
F Poohphajai, O Myronycheva, O Karlsson, L Rautkari, J Sandak, A Sandak


Decay capacity and degradation patterns of Xylaria hypoxylon on different wood species
2022 - IRG/WP 22-10985
A host of physical and environmental factors may influence fungal decay including the wood substrate, temperature, moisture, oxygen, light, pH, and nitrogen. Understanding the effects of these factors on fungal decay is important for the effective utilization of wood decay fungi in biotechnological processes and for understanding the role of these organisms in global carbon cycling. The ascomycete...
E Bari, G Daniel, A Singh, J J Morrell


In Vitro Growth of the Basidiomycetes Physisporinus vitreus strains in various conditions in comparison with some white rot fungi
2022 - IRG/WP 22-10987
The paper has preliminary test results to select Pysisporinus vitreus fungal strains for further experiments in a large research project on copper tolerance of P. vitreus by chemotropic test, choice test, and agar plate toxicity tests and determination of the effect of various ions on oxalic acid secretion by these white rot fungi. In the project, it is also aimed to run fungal decay tests to dete...
E E Soytürk, S N Kartal


Introduction to the project ‘Deterioration and decay of wooden cultural heritage in Arctic and Alpine environments’ (ArcticAlpineDecay)
2022 - IRG/WP 22-10997
The Arctic is already affected by climate change, and this is expected to accelerate over the coming decades. Alpine regions in Norway are projected to face similar challenges. Current knowledge on Norwegian wooden cultural heritage in Arctic and Alpine regions is scattered and contains significant knowledge gaps. Historically, - scientists, sectorial governance, tourist trade and commerce have ma...
G Alfredsen, L Ross, A W Hegnes, M S Austigard, J Mattsson, N B Pedersen, A Sinitsyn, V V Martens, A-C Flyen


Wood Protection Using Nano Metal Oxides in Propylene Glycol
2022 - IRG/WP 22-30760
Metals and metal oxides are known to have properties that can protect wood from degradation. Nanoparticles, due to its unique physical and chemical properties can enhance the protection to a much greater extent. Major constraints in dealing with nanoparticle dispersion can only be resolved by identifying a proper dispersive medium. Studies were carried out by preparing nanodispersion of four metal...
S Nair, G B Nagarajappa, K K Pandey


Impregnation of wood with antifungal compounds from low-quality tree biomass
2022 - IRG/WP 22-30763
In this paper we have reviewed recent research on the development of bio-based preservative formulations for wood done at the Department of wood science and technology, Ljubljana. Preservative formulations used in this investigation were prepared using plant polyphenols as biocidal agents. These nonstructural components of wood were stilbenes and flavonoids, and were extracted from wood of broken ...
V Vek, I Poljanšek, A Balzano, M Humar, P Oven


Durability against fungal decay of sorbitol and citric acid (SorCA) modified wood
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40928
Most European-grown wood species are susceptible to biological degradation, specifically, they suffer from a poor resistance against wood-destroying fungi. Therefore, prior to outdoor exposure, wood has to be treated either by applying a protective coating on its surface or by full-volume impregnation with antifungal chemicals. However, due to environmental and health concerns, the most frequently...
K Kurkowiak, L Emmerich, H Militz


Steam Pre-conditioning Treatment Prior to Acetylation: Impact on Dimensional Stability, Moisture Response Behaviour, and White-Rot Fungal Resistance of Hevea brasiliensis and Mitragyna ciliata Wood
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40930
The effect of steam pre-conditioning treatment on the dimensional stability, moisture response behaviour, and durability against white-rot fungus P. chrysosporium of acetylated Hevea brasiliensis and Mitragyna ciliata wood species were assessed. Defect-free specimens of both species from the top, middle, and base positions were selected, prepared according to ASTM D143-09 & ASTM D-2017 standards a...
E Uchechukwu Opara, J Mayowa Owoyemi, J Adeola Fuwape


Improving wood durability by mineralisation and thermal modification
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40948
A significant increase in the fungal durability of wood was achieved by using a modification procedure combining two environmentally friendly methods: thermal modification and mineralisation. It offers an ecological alternative to other biocidal treatments. European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) were selected as model wood species and exposed to four different fungi: Gloe...
R Repič, A Pondelak, D Kržišnik, M Humar, A S Škapin


Characterization of the fungal communities associated with Aquilaria crassna Pierre ex Lecomte plantations in French Guiana
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11001
Aquilariais a tree species belonging to the family of the Thymeleaceae. When the tree is wounded, it can produce a blackened wood, also known as agarwood. The blackened wood has a darker colour than healthy wood and gives off a strong fragrance greatly appreciated by perfumers and by certain oriental religious communities. Production of this blackened wood is deemed to depend on environmental fact...
C Zaremski, C Malandain, O Sibourg, B Heuclin, N Amusant, M Ducousso, A Zaremski


Assessment of the Material Durability and Structural Integrity of the Wooden Velodrome in Češča vas, Slovenia
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11012
Wood is a widely used material in the construction industry, and it has been utilized for thousands of years to create buildings and other structures. When wooden structures are designed, built, and maintained properly, they can be safe and long-lasting. Sports facilities, which provide athletes with a space to train, compete, and improve their abilities, are crucial in creating a strong and susta...
D Kržišnik, M Humar, B Lesar


Metabolite analysis of fungal COS degradation and phylogenetic investigation of COSase genes
2023 - IRG/WP 23-11018
Fungi are the major species causing microbial deterioration that reduces the commercial value of wood, such as wood decay and surface contamination, so it is important to accumulate knowledge on the physiology of fungi in order to develop countermeasures against these problems. Most physiological studies of fungi that have been reported have concerned the metabolism of carbohydrates as a source of...
R Iizuka, S Hattori, I Ohtsu, D Hibbett, Y Katayama, M Yoshida


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