Performance of copper treated poles and posts after three to fifteen years of exposure
IRG/WP 16-20595
M Humar, N Thaler
Copper based wood preservatives are one of the most important wood preservatives for heavy-duty applications. Wood treated with copper-based preservatives performs excellent if applied according to preservative specifications. If used improperly premature failures might appear. In order to elucidate properties of copper treated wood in use, utility poles and posts treated with copper-based preservatives were investigated. Poles were cut into smaller specimens, afterwards copper and chromium penetration, retention, mechanical properties, extractive content, short-term water uptake and fungicidal properties were determined. The results clearly showed that wood retains its properties if treated with sufficient amounts of copper-based wood preservatives. Insufficient amounts of preservatives applied, result in premature failures of wood commodities. Regardless of the type of wood preservative used, central part of the spruce wood poles and piles is the weakest point, where the majority of the failures occurs.