IRG Documents Database and Compendium


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Classifying white rot decay resistance of some hardwoods from Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia and correlations with their tropical in-ground durability
2012 - IRG/WP 12-10788
White rot wood decay under Malaysian (humid tropical) terrestrial conditions pose more serious threats to the in-ground service life of hardwoods than other common fungal decay types. A study is made on decay resistance variation for a total combined list of 30 Peninsular Malaysian and Sarawak timber species (plus 6 exotic reference temperate commercial woods for comparison) using the laboratory s...
A H H Wong, J M E Jem, Lai Jiew Kok


Pre-treatment decay and strength loss of railroad ties, and their prevention
2013 - IRG/WP 13-30610
Evidence of fungal decay in air-drying, untreated railway crossties is referred to as ‘stack burn’ in the industry. The deleterious consequences of stack burn on tie mechanical properties was confirmed by evaluating the impact bending toughness of wood samples taken from untreated tie stock air dried in the southern United States. These results suggest that careful consideration should be give...
A M Taylor, B Jordan, J D Lloyd


Moisture dynamics of wood – An approach to implement wetting ability of wood into a resistance classification concept
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20557
Within the research programmes WoodBuild and PerformWOOD, wetting ability tests have been conducted with 25 wood-based materials. A first attempt has been made to establish factors for calculating the material resistance of wood materials to be implemented into a design guideline for timber structures. The approach looks promising, but further studies are needed to establish more reliable relation...
C Brischke, C Hesse, L Meyer, S Bardage, J Jermer, T Isaksson


Performance classification of wood in construction – drafting a user friendly European standard
2014 - IRG/WP 14-20545
The performance classification for wood products in construction is an extremely important topic in Europe and beyond – warranty providers and end users demand service life and performance information in the face of competition with other materials. The European project PerformWOOD has formalised and drawn together the on-going research to focus on generation of a material resistance factor for ...
E Suttie, C Brischke, L Meyer, J Van Acker, M Kutnik, E Heisel, F Englund, J Jermer, S Thelandersson, M Polášek, D Lorenzo


Encapsulation Systems Combined with DOT Borate Treatments – The Future of Treated Crossties
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40670
Borates have been utilized in wood protection systems for many decades but only recently have been used in North America to treat crossties. This colorless, ordorless and very effective wood protection chemical has the ability to arrest and prevent the colonization of wood by both basidiomycete decay fungi and insects such as beetles and termites while ties are air seasoning or in service. Since ...
S C Kitchens, T L Amburgey


Borate treatment of green ties: An initial report on the effects on mechanical properties
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40686
Borates are increasingly used as components of wood preservative systems for railway cross ties (“sleepers”) in the USA. A variety of methods exist for incorporating the borate component; however, the so-called ‘two-step’ treatment, which involves treating the green tie in borate, followed by a pressure treatment with creosote or copper naphthenate after drying (‘seasoning’), offers th...
A M Taylor, J D Lloyd


An update on durability of New Zealand grown timber
2015 - IRG/WP 15-10851
Classification and predication of in-service performances of naturally durable timber is much more difficult than preservative treated timber due to the variability of wood properties within and between trees of the same species and the variable nature of the hazard to which the timber will be exposed. A combination of field test and in-service testing has been used to classify the suitability of ...
D Page, T Singh


How does the test methodology influence the outcome of durability testing of thermally modified wood
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40699
Thermally modified wood is commercially available on the European market since many years. Today, many production units with various production capacities and different modification processes exist. Industrial scale wood heat treatment processes, under the trade name of ThermoWood were developed in Finland. ThermoWood has two standard treatment classes with different target properties, namely Ther...
A Gellerich, S Bollmus, H Militz


Best handling practices for wood crossties (sleepers)
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40714
Wooden crossties (sleepers) dominate the rail industry in the USA. Most ties are hardwood treated with oil-borne preservatives using pressure treatment. Incipient decay (called ‘stack burn’) commonly develops during the pre-treatment drying process and reduces tie performance and longevity. Practices to minimize stack burn and enhance wooden tie performance are discussed as an aid to non-wood ...
N Irby, J Lloyd, A Taylor, J Watt


Creosote leaching from timber bridges in Norway – a practical classification approach
2016 - IRG/WP 16-40744
Creosote is widely used as a wood preservative for highway timber bridges in Norway. However, excessive creosote leaching at various highway timber bridge sites leads to a bad reputation for the use of creosote treated timber constructions and the use of wood in general. Macro- and micro anatomical factors such as amount of heartwood, annual ring width, annual ring orientation, ray- height and com...
A Treu, K Zimmer


Towards durability classification of preservative treated wood – first attempts using different European standards
2018 - RG/WP 18-20638
EN 350 (2016) gives guidance on methods for determining and classifying the durability of wood and wood-based material against biological wood destroying agents. “Wood-based materials are those derived from trees and include amongst others: untreated wood, heat treated wood, chemically modified wood, glue laminated wood, wood-based panels, wood polymer composites and wood treated with wood prese...
S Bollmus, A Gellerich, C Brischke, H Militz


Effects of wood protecting biofinish and linseed oil on fire behaviour and leachability of the fire retardant
2018 - IRG/WP 18-30728
A wood protecting biofinish is based on a protective and decorative fungal-based coating and a linseed oil impregnation (called Xyhlo biofinish). This biofinish enables the long-term use of wood in outdoor applications without using toxic chemicals. The fire resistant properties of materials used in buildings are very important. Since Xyhlo biofinish is relatively new, only little information is ...
S Rensink, E J van Niewenhuijzen, M F Sailer


Enhancing service life performance of oak decking and cladding using organosilicon treatments
2018 - IRG/WP 18-40838
The Life+ project SILEX, in full “Improving sustainability of construction materials using innovative Silicon based treatment” started in April 2013 and was finalized mid 2017. The aim of this project was 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. Ultimately, it was the intention to de...
J Van Acker, J Van den Bulcke, J-P Lecomte


Durability classification of preservative treated and modified wood
2019 - IRG/WP 19-20659
EN 350 (2016) allows formally to determine durability classes (DC) for wood products and wood-based materials, which was previously only possible for untreated wood in the form of natural durability. In a first study, the University of Goettingen carried out the durability classification of chemically modified (modified with 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea, DMDHEU) and preservative-treate...
S Bollmus, L Bachle, C Brischke, H Militz


Development of procedures for sampling, testing, and classification to determine the biological durability of wood and wood products
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20676
This paper informs about a research project, which deals with several shortcomings and a lack of clarity within EN 350:2016. The project started in January 2020, will run for 3 years, and is operated by the Institute of Wood Technology Dresden (IHD) and the University of Goettingen (UGOE). Determination and classification of durability of wood and wood products against wood-destroying organisms ...
W Scheiding, K Jacobs, S Bollmus, C Brischke


Sterilization of Large Timbers during Preservative Treatment: How Quickly We Forget
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40902
Air seasoning is a common method of moisture management in utility poles and is done de facto during pole storage prior to treatment. However, extended air drying prior to treatment encourages fungal attack and can facilitate establishment of decay fungi in poles before a protective preservative barrier is applied. This problem can be mitigated by proper air-seasoning methods coupled with heat ste...
G Presley, J Cappellazzi, M Konkler, K Maguire, R Nelson, J J Morrell


Laboratory durability testing of preservative treated wood products – first attempts and observations
2023 - IRG/WP 23-20697
In the past, durability classes (DC) had been assigned to wood species, sometimes also to homogenously modified wood-based materials such as thermally modified wood. More recently, some standards allow for classifying the biological durability of chemically modified wood, preservative treated wood and wood composites. Even treated products may be subject to durability classification, but necessary...
C Brischke, M Sievert, M Schilling, S Bollmus


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