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Potential for migration of boron from fused boron rods used as internal remedial treatments of utility poles
2014 - IRG/WP 14-50301
The distribution of boron in Douglas-fir utility poles and in the surrounding soil was assessed over a 54 month period following application of fused boron rods. Boron levels in the wood never reached the levels that might be predicted if diffusion were to produce a uniform chemical distribution, nor did levels in the soil suggest that boron was becoming more concentrated. The results suggest th...
M Konkler, C Freitag, C S Love, J J Morrell, J Renfroe


Decay resistance of wood-plastic composites reinforced with extracted or delignified wood flour
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40655
The moisture and decay resistance of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) reinforced with extracted or delignified wood flour (WF) was investigated. Three different extractions were preformed: toluene/ethanol (TE), acetone/water (AW), and hot water (HW). Delignification (DL) was performed using a sodium chlorite/acetic acid solution. All WPCs specimens were made with 50% by weight HDPE and WF, first com...
R E Ibach, Yao Chen, N M Stark, M A Tshabalala, Yongming Fan, Jianmin Gao


Comparison of untreated plywood and untreated LVL in a field trial against Coptotermes acinaciformis and in laboratory trials against Tyromyces palustris and Coniophora puteana
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40671
In Australasia, efficacy data obtained on plywood is generally acceptable for laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and vice versa. This is particularly the case with glueline treatment approvals. The rationale is that the two wood products have predominately the same basic structure with the key difference being orientation of the veneer. LVL typically has all veneers in parallel while plywood typical...
A Siraa, K Day, S Millward, P Lobb


Biological durability of natural fibre reinforced composites
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40681
Composite materials reinforced with wood or non-wood natural fibres have the potential to be a lighter and lower-cost alternative construction material. Until better availability and properties and a lower cost price of degradable polymers makes their use more prevalent, the application of natural fibre reinforcements in synthetic polymers is an intermediate step towards products that are complete...
N Defoirdt, I De Windt, J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker


Laboratory Study of Relative Leachability of Chromated Copper Arsenate Preservative from Treated Woods among Soil Types of Sarawak
2014 - IRG/WP 14-50307
Wood and soils are important natural resources from the environment and serves mankind well respectively as structural materials and natural platform erecting such materials. With shortfalls of naturally durable timber species for protected in-ground uses under Malaysian environments, Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) treated woods are widely used instead, incurring serious potential threats of pres...
A H H Wong, P K F Chong


Remote sensing for detection of termite infestations—Proof of Concept
2015 - IRG/WP 15-10846
This paper reports the results of a search to discover the most cost effective and robust method of detecting Reticulitermes flavipes infestations in structural members of remote bridges, homes and other wooden structures and transmitting these results to internet cloud storage thus obviating routine travel to these structures for periodic visual inspections. Duplicate stainless steel tanks were c...
F Green III, R A Arango, C R Boardman, K J Bourne, J C Hermanson, R A Munson


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


Non-destructive monitoring of structure and moisture dynamics of plywood exposed outdoors to improve service life prediction and fit-for-purpose design
2015 - IRG/WP 15-20570
Plywood is an important construction material yet prone to water uptake, which can decrease strength and increase decay risk. To predict service life and improve fit-for-purpose design, it is crucial to understand the moisture behavior and structural changes of plywood. In this research, several plywood specimens were exposed outdoors for approximately one year. During this period, the moisture di...
W Li, J Van den Bulcke, I De Windt, M Dierick, J Van Acker


Termite Management and the U.S. Experience: A Case for Wood Treatment & Integrated Control
2015 - IRG/WP 15-30678
A brief overview of termite control is given using specific experiences from the U.S.A. Five major types of termite treatment now prevail: soil applied chemical barriers, in-structure chemical barriers (in-situ applied wood and foundation treatments), physical barriers, treated wood and termite baits. In general, ‘stand-alone’ pretreatments or ‘primary’ treatments are often discussed and ...
J D Lloyd, K van den Meiracker


Laboratory evaluations of woods from Pakistan and their extractives against Postia placenta and Trametes versicolor
2016 - M Mankowski, B Hassan, A Bishell, G Kirker
Natural durable wood species are those which exhibit innate tolerance to wood decay organisms such as fungi and termites. The goal of this study was to evaluate 4 wood species (Dalbergia sissoo, Cedrus deodara, Morus alba and Pinus roxburghii) from Pakistan in order to determine their resistance to both a model brown (Postia placenta) and white (Trametes versicolor) rot fungus compared to a durabl...
M Mankowski, B Hassan, A Bishell, G Kirker


Fungal decay of archaeological waterlogged oak timber: role of the mineral content
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10873
In service, wood foundation poles are subjected to water level fluctuation in soil. While wood is saturated by water only bacterial decay occurs. When oxygen content increases and moisture content decreases, severe fungal attack may occur. To evaluate the long term fungal durability of wood foundation pole in the context of service, 300 years waterlogged archaeological wood poles were used. The oa...
A Besserer, M Letellier, E Fredon, Q Kleindienst, M-L Antoine, C Perrin, J Lallemand, C Rose, M-C Trouy


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


Measurement of Cell Wall Moisture in Acetylated Radiata Pine Using Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20583
Understanding the interaction of water with acetylated wood is necessary to explain how the protective mechanism of acetylation functions. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance is one technique for assessing water in wood. Pinus radiata earlywood sapwood samples were acetylated to various weight percentage gains and then analysed with this method. Increased levels of acetylation showed significantl...
H G Beck, C A S Hill


Moisture monitoring in WW2 partisan hospital Franja
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20596
Material climate of wood used for construction of WW2 Partisan hospital Franja was monitored for approximately one year. Partisan hospital is located in the bottom of tiny gorge Pasice in Slovenia. Hence, wood moisture content on eight respective location and wood temperature was determined twice per day with Scanntronik equipment Gigamodul and Thermofox. The results clearly showed that despite of...
M Humar, N Thaler, B Lesar, A Žagar


Insight in moisture dynamics of wood treated with organosilicon compounds
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20598
The SILEX project “Improving sustainability of construction materials using innovative Silicon based treatment” is a Life+ project with reference LIFE+11 ENV/BE/1046 and started in April 2013. This project intends to demonstrate that a new class of compounds can be used for wood treatment for an extended service life combined with enhanced new testing methodology. The project aims at demonstra...
J Van Acker, J Van den Bulcke, I De Windt, S Colpaert, S De Rocker, S Salvati, J-P Lecomte


Evidence for a role for precipitated copper on the chemistry of micronized copper treatments
2016 - IRG/WP 16-30690
Micronized copper preservative treatments of softwoods, result in mobile copper being formed by reaction of the basic copper carbonate (BCC) with the carboxylic acid functional groups in hemicellulose and pectic substances present in wood. Typically, the amount of reacted copper formed is approximately 0.3% Cu m/m. In this paper, two examples are discussed where remaining unreacted basic copper ca...
Wei Xue, P Kennepohl, J N R Ruddick


Evaluation of advanced tannin-boron preservative in unsterile soil-bed tests
2016 - IRG/WP 16-30693
In Europe, boron compounds are facing restrictions, and due to their natural solubility into water, the only way to keep using them for wood protection is to fix them into the wood, at very low level (Obanda et al. 2008). In the meantime, the idea of protecting wood with natural preservatives has been back into favour (Lotz and Hollaway 1988, Nakayama et al. 2001, Singh and Singh 2012). Tannin a ...
Jinbo Hu, Yiqiang Wu, Shanshan Chang, Guangming Yuan, G Tondi, M-F Thévenon


The durability of manufactured structural building materials
2016 - IRG/WP 16-40718
The projected market potential for Engineered Wood Products such as CLT (cross laminated timber) is very positive however, potential prolonged rain leakage or moisture exposure during construction and in-service could pose considerable concern for its durability and reputation. This research was conducted to assess the decay resistance of CLT and OSB (oriented strand board) in an accelerated trial...
T Singh, D Page


Resistance of heat treated Ash wood under steam pressure: rot fungi, soil micro-organisms and termites
2016 - IRG/WP 16-40724
Thermal modification processes have been developed to increase the biological durability and dimensional stability of wood. The aim of this paper was to study the influence of ThermoWood® treatment intensity on wood decay resistance improvement against soil-inhabiting micro-organisms, brown/white rots and termite’s exposures. All of the tests were carried out in the laboratory with two differen...
K Candelier, S Hannouz, M-F Thévenon, D Guibal, P Gérardin, M Pétrissans, R Collet


Durability of Thermally Modified Engineered Wood Products
2016 - IRG/WP 16-40745
In this study, rated plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), laminated strand lumber (LSL), and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) were thermally modified as a post-treatment at 140 °C, 150 °C, 160 °C, 170 °C, and 180 °C using a closed, pressurized treatment method. Eastern larch OSB manufactured from heartwood and sapwood was also thermally modified as a post-treatment at 160 °C and 180°C. All ...
H M Barnes, M D Aro, A Rowlen


Encapsulation of poles to prevent moisture uptake – a laboratory test
2016 - IRG/WP 16-40753
Premature failure of utility poles due to decay in soil contact is the main reason for early removal of utility poles, a measure that implies extra costs for utilities. Remedial treatments and barriers are common methods to prolong the service life of utility poles. The first part of this paper gives an overview of mode of action and commercial application of barrier systems as described in the li...
K-C Mahnert, U Hundhausen


A Case Study of Long-term CCA Preservative Leaching from Treated Hardwood Poles in a Humid Tropical Condition
2016 - IRG/WP 16-50324
Chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated Malaysian hardwoods have long been used as utility poles, posts, construction piles and motorway fencing in soil contact exposed to the threats of decay fungi and termites. Despite global concerns citing predominantly temperate conditions of long-term leaching of CCA toxic heavy metals from wood into surrounding soils and groundwater since the 1990’s, the ...
A H H Wong, W S M Chin


Influence of Weathering on Moisture Performance of Wood
2017 - IRG/WP 17-20619
Water performance of wood is besides the inherent durability the most important factor that influences on the performance of wood in outdoor, above ground applications. Therefore it is of significant importance to optimize the methods that are able to predict the moisture behaviour of wood in outdoor applications. In order to elucidate this questions, samples were prepared of oak (Quercus), sweet ...
M Žlahtič-Zupanc, B Lesar, N Thaler, M Humar


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