Resistance to decay of particle boards: Presentation of a test method
IRG/WP 2260
G R Y Déon, N Trong
The experimentations were undertaken on particle boards 35 and 50 mm thick. The rot resistance tests were carried out on specimens whose dimensions were 600 x 75 x 35 mm³ for particle boards 35 mm thick and 800 x 75 x 50 mm³ for particle boards 50 mm thick according to a method derived from the one described in the documents IRG/WP/2214 and IRG/WP/2243. Two exposure periods were used: 12 and 16 weeks. After exposure to the fungi, the extent of the attack on the specimens was measured by a static bending test according to the french standard NF B 51.224. The tests showed that if a 12 week exposure period to the fungi leading to losses of static bending resistance of 20 to 60% (depending on the fungi used) proved to be adequate for 35 mm thick particle boards, an exposure time of 16 weeks was necessary for particle boards 50 mm thick (losses of static bending resistance varied from 40 to 70% according to the strains of fungi used).