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Field Performance of Old-Growth and Second-Growth Western Red Cedar Fence Posts with and without Barrier Wraps
2015 - IRG/WP 15-10838
Many authors have suggested natural durability may be lower in second-growth western redcedar than in old-growth. One potential means of offsetting a decline in durability is use of physical barriers to separate the wood from soil. In the present work we compared the durability of old-growth and second-growth western red cedar posts, with and without barrier wraps, in a field test. After ten year...
P I Morris, J K Ingram, R Stirling


Interpretation of moisture monitoring data - Relevance of moisture content thresholds for fungal decay
2015 - IRG/WP 15-10839
It is widely accepted that besides temperature wood moisture content (MC) is the key factor when it comes to durability of wooden structures exposed to weathering. Many approaches to predict the service life of wooden structures have therefore been based on using wood MC as one major input-variable to develop dose-response relationships between material climate and decay response. However, to impr...
L Meyer, C Brischke


Influence of artificial and natural weathering on water exclusion efficacy of wood
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20559
Water exclusion efficacy (WEE) is one of the most important properties of wood that contributes to the overall performance of naturally durable wood species in outdoor above ground applications. WEE is in strong correlation with moisture dynamics of wood, its hydrophobicity and can indicates susceptibility against wood decay fungi. Despite of the importance of this parameter, WEE is not completely...
M Žlahtič, M Humar


Applicability of wood durability testing methods to bio-based building materials
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20561
It is well known that organic materials may be susceptible to attack from a range of fungal organisms and any bio-based material used in locations where there is the possibility of microbiological activity must be expected to be able to withstand or prevent such attack. There are a wide range of test methods and standards in place to test susceptibility although most of these test individual compo...
S F Curling, B K Stefanowski, E Mansour, G A Ormondroyd


The combined effect of wetting ability and durability on field performance – verification of a new prediction approach
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20565
Comprehensive approaches to predict performance of wood products are requested by international standards and the first attempts have been made in the frame of European research projects. However, there is still an immanent need for a methodology to implement the durability and moisture performance of wood in a performance classification system. The aim of this study was therefore to establish an ...
C Brischke, G Alfredsen, P-O Flæte, M Humar, T Isaksson, L Meyer


Introduction of the COST FP 1303 Cooperative Performance Test
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20567
COST Action FP 1303 “Performance of bio-based building materials” successfully started in October 2013 and an ambitious program was set up for the four year programme. COST Actions provide an excellent opportunity for collaborative research, e.g. in the frame of Round Robin tests. The idea of this respective test was to distribute a fairly simple test set up to as many places in Europe as poss...
M Humar, C Brischke, L Meyer, B Lesar, N Thaler, D Jones, S Bardage, C Belloncle, J Van den Bulcke, J M Abascal, G Alfredsen, D Baisch, B Brunnhuber, G Cofta, E Grodås, E Frühwald Hansson, M Irle, H Kallakas, J Kers, M Klamer, P Larsson Brelid, A B Maider, K C Mahnert, E Melcher, R Möller, M Noël, L Nunes, G A Ormondroyd, S Palanti, N Pfabigan, A Pilgård, A O Rapp, P Schumacher, E Suttie, T Teppand, M Touza, J Van Acker


Performance of bio-based building materials – viewpoints from the first year of COST Action FP1303
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20572
Maintaining and expanding the market potential for bio-based building products in indoor and outdoor construction uses remains a key activity for industries in the forestry and biotechnological sector, particularly in Europe. Whilst there are ongoing activities within IRG for collecting and populating a database on performance on wood, the performance data for many other (i.e. non-wood) "environme...
D Jones


Above ground field testing: results of experiments in Brazil after one year
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30660
After the development of new products they need to be field-tested to assess their efficacy under diverse conditions of climate, comparing them with a preservative with proven efficacy. In some testing sites, decay occurs very slowly. The solution would be to bring these tests to locations that are conducive to biodeterioration, like tropical climates. Tropical sites provide higher temperature and...
M F Natale, J M Vidal


Building solid foundations to support market growth of preserved wood in the UK – treatment quality, product approval and the largest national field trial of preservative treated wood in 50 years
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30662
The Wood Protection Association (WPA) has just commissioned Britain’s largest ever durability trial of home grown timber, having contracted Building Research Establishment (BRE) to conduct a long term controlled field trial of sawn and pressure treated British Softwood posts at two sites with differing soil conditions. This large scale Field Trial is the last of an innovative and substantial thr...
E Suttie, G Ewbank


Factors Affecting Performance of Preserved Wood Decking Against Decay Fungi
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30663
Decking is the largest market for residential preserved wood in the United States. Preserved decking must be resistant to colonization by decay fungi initiating from spores, and occasionally from mycelia due to elevated soil levels or adjacent untreated wood. The most vulnerable parts of a preserved wood deck are untreated, or under-treated, wood that becomes exposed by field cuts and checking. Fi...
R Stirling, P I Morris


Biological Performance of Triadimefon in combination with Tebuconazole in laboratory and field tests
2015 - IRG/WP 30668
The usage of Triazole-combinations for wood preservatives is common practice in several countries. Especially the combination of Tebuconazole and Propiconazole is preferred for this application due to its broad spectrum of efficacy against wood destroying fungi. 1-(4-Chlorphenoxy)-3,3-dimethyl-1-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-butanon, also known as Triadimefon provides a good efficacy against the wood destr...
P Meckler, T Jaetsch


Performance of kiln-dried and air-dried anti-sapstain treated pallet timber under use scenarios against wood discolouring fungi
2015 - IRG/WP 30669
During their lifespan there is a high probability that wooden pallets and packaging material will be exposed to rainfall or rewetting conditions, increasing the risk of growth of discolouring fungi. Kiln-drying of wooden pallets and packaging material without anti-sapstain treatment does not give efficient protection against wood discolouring fungi during rewetting periods. However additional temp...
A Steitz, E Stoyanova, N Pfabigan, R Gründlinger


Mould growth on spruce claddings and the effect of selected influencing factors after 4 years of outdoor testing
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30671
Norway spruce (Picea abies) is the most frequently chosen wood species as claddings in façades in Norway, and is used both coated and uncoated. The visual changes that occur during weathering can be colour changes, abrasion or wear, blistering, flaking, and even cracks in the wood or coating, but more often growth of mould and blue stain fungi is the main challenge. A field test with synchronous monitoring of relative humidity, air temperature, material temperature and wood moisture content in Norway spruce claddings has been performed in southern Norway as part of the ClimateLife project. Visual evaluation of blue stain and mould growth according to EN 927-3 was performed, and evaluation data after 46 months exposure is presented. The objectives were to study the effect of 1) environment, 2) cardinal direction and 3) colour of the coated surface on growth of blue stain and mould fungi and to study the variation in relative humidity, air temperature, wood moisture content and material temperature. After 46 months exposure, the red coating system had generally the lowest mould ratings and the uncoated claddings had the highest. Of the white coloured claddings the ones facing south had lower mould ratings than those facing north, but the opposite were found for red coloured claddings. The relative humidity was higher in front of claddings exposed northwards and in a shaded environment compared to an open environment against south. In an open environment red coloured claddings had the lowest wood moisture content and highest material temperature, and red coloured claddings against south had the highest maximum material temperature.
L Ross Gobakken, G I Vestøl


Tall oil – performance after a decade of field exposure
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30672
Water repellents have the potential to enhance biocidal activity by reducing leaching and lowering the moisture levels in wood exposed to rains. A range of studies have been performed in order to evaluate the potentials of tall oils as wood protective systems. The general conclusion has been that tall oil can provide some protection but that they cannot compete with the copper and organic biocide ...
G Alfredsen, P-O Flæte


Indentation and pendulum hardness tests: two convenient assessment methods of the performance of exterior wood coatings
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40689
Developing formulations of exterior wood coatings with long service life is a big challenge. For many years in Europe the performances have been mainly evaluated through weathering tests (within the EN 927 series) followed by visual assessment (blistering, flaking, mould growth, chalking and cracking), colour and gloss measurements, and adhesion tests. Very recently the importance of the mechanica...
L Malassenet, L Podgorski, M Truskaller, G Grüll


Some comments on durability testing of WPC according to EN 15534-1
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40695
The standard EN 15534-1 (2014) gives advice for broad characterization of WPC materials and products. It contains instructions for test procedures concerning different properties e.g. mechanical properties, thermal properties, as well as durability. In this paper some WPC materials from the market were tested for their resistance against brown rot. Furthermore, the water uptake and bending prope...
S Bollmus, A Gellerich, H Militz


How does the test methodology influence the outcome of durability testing of thermally modified wood
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40699
Thermally modified wood is commercially available on the European market since many years. Today, many production units with various production capacities and different modification processes exist. Industrial scale wood heat treatment processes, under the trade name of ThermoWood were developed in Finland. ThermoWood has two standard treatment classes with different target properties, namely Ther...
A Gellerich, S Bollmus, H Militz


Investigation of Dimensional Stability and Coating Performance of Different Heat-Treated Poplar Wood Before and After Accelerated Aging
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40702
In this investigation, coating performance of heat-treated poplar wood (Populus tremuloioes) in different environments, before and after accelerated aging was studied. Specimens with 150×100×20 mm and 20×20×20 mm in dimensions were prepared. Heat treatments were performed in air, steam and linseed oil media. Specimens were coated by alkyd based stain. Adhesion strength before and after aging, ...
A Talaei, D Ansari Movahed, G Rassam


Durability of reaction to fire performance of FRT wood products in different end use applications – Methods and results
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40705
Fire retardant treatments (FRT) may considerably improve the reaction to fire properties of wood-based products and the highest fire classifications for combustible products can be reached, but the maintained reaction to fire performance e. g. in exterior applications needs to be addressed in order to form a basis for new and reliable wood products with improved fire performance. A European Techn...
B Östman, L Tsantaridis


Above-ground performance of a buffered amine oxide treatment system against Mastotermes darwiniensis
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10855
Above-ground H2 field tests against Mastotermes darwiniensis were conducted in far north Queensland to assess the efficacy of buffered amine oxide treatments in the softwoods Pinus sylvestris and P. radiata, and the hardwoods Eucalyptus regnans and E. diversicolor. Untreated hardwoods and slash pine bait wood (P. elliottii) were severely attacked or destroyed, while untreated P. sylvestris was mod...
L J Cookson, R W Clawson Jr


Global survey on durability variation – on the effect of the reference species
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20573
Climate change due to anthropogenic emissions is the largest environmental challenge of our time. Forest-based value chains play an important role in reducing the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere. Maximizing the use of wood to tackle climate change requires improved understanding of the service life of timber products. This information can best be obtained from field testing and while there i...
R Stirling, G Alfredsen, C Brischke, I De Windt, L P Francis, E Frühwald Hansson, M Humar, J Jermer, M Klamer, M Kutnik, P Laks, I Le Bayon, S Metsä-Kortelainen, L Meyer-Veltrup, P I Morris, J Norton, T Singh, J Van Acker, J Van den Bulcke, T M Venås, H Viitanen, A H H Wong


On the effect of climate and exposure conditions on durability indicators and their potential for service life prediction of wood-based products
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20576
In order to encourage increased use of wood, different user groups need to be better informed regarding the variation in performance between different wood materials and the effect of different use classes. It is also important to provide good empirical data on the service life of wood products as input to for example life cycle assessment studies. In the current study the effect of temperature an...
G Alfredsen, C Brischke, P-O Flæte, M Humar, L Meyer-Veltrup


Moisture induced risk and fungal development in various field test set-ups in and above ground
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20577
A high number of studies on the decay performance of wood in outdoor exposure have been conducted in the past. However, no testing methodology for wooden components exposed above ground reflecting the variety of different loads has been established so far. Many test protocols were modified in different ways throughout the years and results were often published in an encoded or incomplete way. This...
L Meyer-Veltrup, C Brischke


Bundle tests - Simple alternatives to standard above ground field test methods
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20581
Within this study we applied different new above ground test set ups to untreated Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) and Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.) which are frequently used as reference or control species in wood durability field tests. The overall aim of this study was to find a simple alternative method to the few standardized above ground field test methods, such as the L-joint a...
C Brischke, L Meyer-Veltrup


Expert versus multi-sensor evaluation of wood samples after short term weathering
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20587
Understanding the influence of weathering factors and the material degradation mechanisms are fundamental for modelling the weathering process of wood. The goal of this work was to investigate the combined effect of time and exposure on the physical-chemical mechanisms of wood weathering. Four exposure directions (North, South, East and West) were investigated. Experimental tests were performed fo...
A Sandak, J Sandak, I Burud, L Ross Gobakken, M Noël


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