Fixation and leaching of selected Malaysian tropical hardwood after treated with CCA
IRG/WP 01-40207
R Hashim, O Sulaiman, Tan Siew Ching, K Yamamoto
The objective of this study is to investigate the fixation and leaching properties of selected Malaysian tropical hardwood (sentang wood (sapwood and heartwood) and rubberwood) after being treated with copper chrome arsenate (CCA) type-C preservative. The samples were treated with retention level of 0.5%, 2.0% and 5.0%. The samples were leached and the leachate were analyzed by AAS and the amount of remaining CCA elements in the cell (lumen and cell wall) were observed and analyzed using SEM and EDXA. The remaining CCA elements in sample/cell wall indicate the ability of fixation of the samples. Sentang wood could be successfully treated with CCA. Sentang heartwood is harder to treat compared to sentang sapwood and rubberwood. Copper and chromium have higher fixation properties in sentang heartwood compared to sentang sapwood and rubberwood. Arsenic element showed less fixation in sentang heartwood compared to sentang sapwood and rubberwood. Observation and analysis with EDXA showed that the microdistribution of the elements in the cell wall is distributed ununiformly throughout the cell wall and cell lumen.