Improvement of durability of Scots pine against termites by impregnation with citric acid and glycerol followed by in situ polyesterification

IRG/WP 23-30777

M Mubarok, J Damay, E Masson, E Fredon, Y S Hadi, I W Darmawan, P Gerardin

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) sapwood samples were impregnated with solution containing citric acid (CA) and glycerol (Gly) followed by heating 140 °C according to already described procedure (L'hostis et al. 2018). The resulting modified woods were then used to evaluate the effect of chemical modification on the durability against termites. Two kinds of experiments were conducted for this purpose: field tests conducted for three months at Bogor, West Java island, Indonesia, the dominant subterranean termite species identified in this area were Schedorhinotermes sp. and Macrotermes sp., and no choice laboratory tests against Cryptotermes cynocephalus Light. The results reveal that all wood samples treated with citric acid and glycerol presented significantly higher termite resistance than untreated wood samples in the field tests. Similar results were also obtained for no choice laboratory tests. Associated to already obtained results demonstrating higher dimensional stability and better decay resistance, the present study confirms the possibilities to develop completely free biocide preservative treatments using chemical modification.


Keywords: chemical modification, citric acid, durability, glycerol, polyester, termite, wood

Conference: 23-05-28/06-01 Cairns, Australia


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