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The Role of Moisture Content in Above-ground Leaching
2007 - IRG/WP 07-50245
This paper reviews previous reports on the moisture content of wood exposed above ground and compares those values to moisture contents obtained using simulated rainfall and immersion methods. Laboratory leaching trials with CCA-treated specimens were also conducted and the results compared to published values for leaching of CCA-treated specimens exposed above ground outdoors. Previous researcher...
S Lebow, P Lebow


Control of Moisture Content in Wood Materials for Mold Growth
2007 - IRG/WP 07-10630
Mold growth on wood materials is a major concern for house owners, as it can cause health and aesthetic problems. Mold fungi, present everywhere, usually appear as black or gray patches on wood surfaces in humid environments, and are common in houses. Like any living organism, molds need food, water, oxygen, and a specific temperature range in order to grow. To avoid mold growth on wood materia...
Dian-Qing Yang


Evaluating the Process of ACQ-Treated Woods with TGAand CEM Analysis
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20374
To provide an understanding of the fundamental thermal behaviour and the disposal-end products of ACQ-treated woods, this study is comprised of two categories of examination. The first is related to the use of TGA under different thermal decomposition conditions (nitrogen or air, and 5 or 40 oC/min), and the use of EDX to examine certain residual elements of the char. The second applies the CEM ...
Han Chien Lin, Tsang-Chyi Shiah, Jung Ting Tsai


Water Absorption of Various Building Materials and Mold Growth
2008 - IRG/WP 08-10657
Mold growth is a major problem for house owners, as it often occurs on the surface of building materials in damp houses. The principal method to control mold growth on building materials is to prevent water penetration into the materials. A study was recently conducted to determine water absorption rates of different wood species and panel materials used as building materials, when water intrusi...
Dian-Qing Yang


In-service performance of wood depends upon the critical in-situ conditions. Case studies.
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20382
Wood is a unique building material, but is by nature designed to deteriorate. A detailed understanding of the factors and interactions involved are important when working with service life prediction of wooden components in buildings. Wood may experience exponential fungal degradation caused by variation in the climatic factors within a small limited area and by minor imperfection in the wooden ...
L Ross Gobakken, J Mattsson, G Alfredsen


A preliminary note on the role of moisture absorption rate in durability assessment
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20383
The rate of moisture uptake was studied in 15 wood species using vermiculite at varying moisture levels as the exposure medium. As might be expected, moisture uptake varied widely among the species studied. While some of the more durable wood species were also resistant to moisture uptake, this was not always true. The results are discussed in relation to performance in under varying environmenta...
J J Morrell, L P Francis


Service life prediction of wood: scale-dependent tools within a bio-engineering framework
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20387
Service life prediction (SLP) is a complex yet essential method for the building industry. Accurate and precise assessment of the components is crucial for a strong position of wood on the market. As it is a biological material, wood has an inherent variability and is susceptible to fungal attack. Therefore a profound knowledge of these characteristics is the corner stone of SLP for wood products....
J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker, M Stevens


Preservative treatment of strips of Bambusa balcooa by soaking process using Borax-Boric acid
2008 - IRG/WP 08-30478
Bamboo strips made from Borak bamboo (Bambusa balcooa) were treated with 10% borax-boric acid aqueous solution by soaking process. The moisture contents of the bamboo strips were 12%, 20% and 30%. The strips were soaked for one, two, three, four and five days. The penetration of the solution was investigated by colour test after soaking and drying. Full penetration was observed after three days ...
K Akhter, M W Sheikh, M M Rahman, T A Chowdhury, M H Chowdhury


Effects of Moisture Content and Species on Penetration of Liquid in Laser Incised Lumber by the Passive Impregnation Method
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40408
Penetration of liquid by passive impregnation method for Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco), sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) and Japanese larch (Larix leptolepis Gordon) were studied. Effects of initial moisture content of sugi (16, 43 and 70% moisture content) on liquid penetration by the method were also studied. Dried Douglas-fir and sugi, and green Japanese larch and sugi were treat...
N Hattori, M Nazrul Islam, K Ando, H Yamauchi


Comparison of permeability at different levels of moisture content in Bornmullerian fir (Abies bornmulleriana Mattf.) and Eastern spruce (Picea orientalis L.) impregnated under vacuum/pressure through full-cell method by using CCA and CCB of different concentrations
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40366
In this study, a comparison has been made in terms of the combined, longitudinal, tangential, and radial permeability of the species of Bornmullerian fir (Abies bornmulleriana Mattf.) and Eastern spruce (Picea orientalis L.) with moisture contents of 50 % and 15 %, which were impregnated under vacuum/pressure through full-cell method by using water-borne wood preservatives (impregnation materials)...
I Usta


Laboratory and field exposures of FRT plywood: Part 1. Physical test data
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40426
Our understanding of the laboratory induced degradation with fire retardant systems is currently limited since we are unable to correlate laboratory steady-state experiments with actual in-service field degradation. Current model studies have generally been limited to isothermal rate studies with selected model FR chemicals. Other factors also play a major role in the degradation of FR-treated woo...
H M Barnes, J E Winandy, C R McIntyre


High Temperature Treated Wood
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40429
High temperature can modify internal structure and physic-chemical properties of wood by a controlled pyrolysis process. Such treatment, among other changes in properties, modifies the wood color in a way that resembles exotic species, increasing its market value. The main objective of this work is to determine the changes in wood properties caused by the effect of temperature and time, in order t...
C C Borges, A L Barbosa, R Faber de Campos, S T Targas


Accelerated weathering of nine tropical wood species from Cameroon
2009 - IRG/WP 09-10705
The natural durability of tropical species for building components has been a subject of recent concern and questioning, mainly the resistance to weathering. Weathering resistance of nine tropical species from Cameroon, namely Azobe, Bilinga, Bubinga, Teak, Dousie, Moabi, Musanga, Sipo and Padauk were evaluated using an accelerated weatherometer for 2016 hours. Measurement of moisture fluctuation,...
S Pankras, Jinzhen Cao, D P Kamdem


Moisture adsorption isotherms of wood studies using a dynamic vapour sorption apparatus
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20398
Five types of wood including two Malaysian hardwoods acacia mangium (Acacia mangium) and sesenduk (Endospermum malaccense), two temperate softwoods, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), radiata pine (Pinus radiata) and Accoya (commercially modified wood) were studied to determine their moisture sorption behaviour using a Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) apparatus. The isotherm plot for each species teste...
J Zaihan, C A S Hill, S Curling


Service Life Prediction of Wood Claddings by in-situ Measurement of Wood Moisture Content: Status after 5 years of Outdoor Exposure
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20401
The Danish Technological Institute is in co-operation with industry partners running a project aiming at predicting the service life of different wood protecting systems. The project focuses on examining the moisture reducing effect of different protecting systems for timber claddings and the ability of these to maintain the appearance of the surfaces, when the wood is used in service class 3 (EN ...
E Tang Engelund, B Lindegaard, N Morsing


Building with termites: The challenge of biomimetic design for carbon neutral buildings.
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20405
The main aim of this paper is to present humanity and termites as design partners in the creation of a new dimension of ecosystem understanding. “Beyond biomimicry: What termites can tell us about realizing the living building”, Turner and Soar (2008) opens up a new era in how we think of human habitations, not only on earth, but maybe on other planets, and using the termite model as the corne...
J R J French, B M Ahmed (Shiday)


Evaluation of exposure conditions for wooden facades and decking
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20408
During their functional life, building components are exposed to moisture and other environment stress conditions in numerous ways. This is a fact that should be taken into account during manufacture, product development, designing and work execution of building components. For wood material, moisture stress and biological factors like mould and decay fungi are often critical in cladding and decki...
H Viitanen, T Toratti, R Peuhkuri, T Ojanen, L Makkonen


Evaluation of variables that influence dynamic MOE in wood decay studies
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20409
The effect of wood moisture content (MC) and outdoor exposure of southern pine lap-joint components on dynamic MOE values was investigated. The use of dynamic MOE as a method of measuring progressive biodeterioration of above ground test samples shows promise, but the accuracy of this method for evaluating test samples subjected to fluctuating environmental conditions has not been reported. The re...
D Nicholas, J Shi, T Schultz


Continuous moisture measurement (CMM) to detect failure of moisture resistance
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20422
A wood coating system will fail to perform properly after a certain time of weathering. From that moment, the substrate is especially prone to fungal attack. Moisture plays a key role on weathering performance, wood protection efficacy and decay susceptibility of wood. Therefore, knowledge of the moisture dynamics of the applied wood protection is of significant importance in the prediction of the...
I De Windt, J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker


Colour change monitoring of photodegradation in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) – a short term focus
2009 - IRG/WP 09-40442
Colour change monitoring of photodegradation is a quick and easy method for monitoring rates of photodegradation in timber. A study was undertaken to compare this technique to other monitoring methods, including microtensile strength changes and weight loss. Colour changes due to accelerated sunlight exposure were monitored using a Datacolor check spectrophotometer and compared with a set of contr...
V Sharratt, C A S Hill, D P R Kint


Estimating the heat treatment intensity through various properties of thermally modified timber (TMT)
2009 - IRG/WP 09-40459
The suitability of different measures for prediction of the heat treatment intensity was investigated. Therefore, the resistance to impact milling (RIM), the lightness L*, the equilibrium moisture content (EMC), the anti swelling efficiency (ASE) and the total amount of soluble carbohydrates (TSC) of heat treated specimens were correlated with corresponding fungal resistance achieved by heat treat...
C R Welzbacher, C Brischke, A O Rapp


Weathering of Wood Modified with the N-Methylol Compound 1,3‑dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU)
2009 - IRG/WP 09-40467
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sapwood boards were treated with a methylated 1,3‑dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea (mDMDHEU) causing weight gains of approx. 25% and exposed to weathering for 18 months. Compared to untreated boards, treatment with mDMDHEU reduced surface discoloration mainly caused by staining fungi. Boards treated with mDMDHEU exhibited clearly lower moisture content th...
C Mai, Yanjun Xie, A Krause, K Urban, P D Evans, K Richter, H Militz


The effect of chemical changes on the wood-moisture relationships in thermally-modified wood
2009 - IRG/WP 09-40473
Small specimens of three wood species were thermally modified following twenty schedules in the 190-245°C temperature range for treatment times between 0.3 and 16 h. Five wood-moisture relations were subsequently determined, namely: anti-swelling efficiency (ASE), movement, hygroscopicity (adsorption and desorption), transversal swelling (radial and tangential directions), and equilibrium moistur...
M M González-Peña, M D C Hale


Measurements of rot fungal activity as a function of moisture content by isothermal calorimetry
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20428
Measurements of heat production rate have been made on wood samples with the brown rot fungus Postia placenta at different moisture contents. The results clearly indicate that the heat production rate (a measure of respiration rate and activity) is moisture dependent. When the moisture content is decreased, less heat is produced, and when the moisture content is increased, more heat is produced. I...
L Wadsö, A Pilgård, G Alfredsen


Service life prediction of wooden components – Part 1: Determination of dose-response functions for above ground decay
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20439
Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Douglas fir heartwood (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco) specimens were exposed in double layer field trials at 24 different European test sites under different exposure conditions (in total 28 test sets). The material climate in terms of wood moisture content (MC) and wood temperature was automatically recorded over a period of up to eight years and compar...
C Brischke, A O Rapp


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