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The kinetics of anhydride modification reactions of wood. Experimental results and theoretical modelling
1998 - IRG/WP 98-40125
Although the chemical modification of wood remains a fertile area for research, there has been little work performed on the kinetics of the modification process. The reaction kinetics of a series of linear chain and cyclic anhydrides has been studied and activation energies of the reaction determined. The reaction kinetic profiles are determined by the relative rates of reaction of the reagent wit...
C A S Hill, J G Hillier


Microwave modification of Yellow Stringybark (Eucalyptus Muelleriana) posts for impregnation with Copper-Chrom-Arsenic (CCA) preservatives
2000 - IRG/WP 00-40185
Yellow Stringybark posts with diameters ranging from 60-100 mm were microwave conditioned using a 60 kW microwave (MW) generator. A substantial improvement in heartwood penetration of preservatives and relaxation of growth stresses was indicated such that there was no split formation following drying of the posts. High preservative absorption of copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA) was achieved ranging fro...
G Torgovnikov, P Vinden


Modification of solid wood: research and practical potential
1997 - IRG/WP 97-40098
The polymeric structure of the wooden cellwall mainly consists cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The most reactive sites on these components are the hydroxyl groups. The cellwall polymers (and its reactive hydroxyl groups) are responsible for most physical and chemical properties of wood. By changing the basic chemistry of the cellwall polymers, it is possible to change different undesirable at...
H Militz, E P J Beckers, W J Homan


Biological degradation resistance of wood acetylated with thioacetic acid
1983 - IRG/WP 3223
Chemically, modification of wood is being considered as an alternative to conventional preservation by toxic chemicals. Acetylated wood has been reported to be quite resistant to most biodegrading organisms at weight percent gains (WPG) around 15-19. The conventional acetylation techniques with acethic anhyrdride result in generation of acetic acid. However, acetylation with thioacetic acid overco...
S Kumar, S C Agarwal


Three years of field tests with "Lignomer" stakes in ground contact
1981 - IRG/WP 3166
The "Lignomer" (Wood Polymer Composite) is a material obtained during the polymerisation of various monomers or its mixtures in wood. As laboratory tests have shown, this material is characterized by a high resistance against biological deteriorating agents. The laboratory investigations on the durability of various materials against biological deterioration are in many instances extended by field...
K Lutomski


Three-year field trials of polymeric formulations which provide a new basis for the invention and design of non-toxic wide-spectrum wood preservatives
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40029
Three types of non-toxic polymeric formulations invented using a new approach to wood preservation were challenged with termites and fungi in three-year ground-contact field trials in the sub-tropical climate of Natal. These formulations were copper soaps of carboxylic acid groups of unsaturated fatty acids of waxes and edible vegetable oils; of resin acids of rosin, and, of synthetic unsaturated ...
A A W Baecker, A Pizzi


Screening of the technical performance and aquatic toxicity of N-methylolacrylamide treated wood
2000 - IRG/WP 00-40166
In the course of the last decades chemical modification of wood species, with a limited natural durability, has been subjected to intensive research. As a possible alternative and supplementary treatment of non-durable wood in a range of applications it remains one of the major topics in the wood preservation world. Different modification systems have been scaled-up and are now in an industrialisi...
V Rijckaert, S De Geyter, J Van Acker, M Stevens


Characteristics of thermally modified wood in vacuum
2004 - IRG/WP 04-40287
In commercial thermal wood modification processes nitrogen, steam or oil has been used for the reduction of oxygen content in the reactor atmosphere. In present study no special heating medium, but an initial vacuuming step has been used for this purpose. Mass loss, resistance to fungal decay, dimensional stability, bending strength and modulus of elasticity of heat treated wood were evaluated and...
G Rep, F Pohleven, B Bucar


Effect of fungal degradation on the chemical composition of acetylated beech wood
2003 - IRG/WP 03-40267
This study investigated the impact of fungal attack on the chemical composition of acetylated wood. Beech wood acetylated to different degrees was exposed to decay by the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor under solid-state fermentation conditions. Laboratory soil-bed assays were also conducted to study the degradation of acetylated wood by soft rot fungi and other soil-inhabiting microorganisms...
H Militz, Dong-won Son, L Gómez-Hernández, R Sierra-Alvarez


Test methods for modifies wood: The EU-Thematic network approach
2002 - IRG/WP 02-20255
The last decade wood modification systems have become new wood treatment methods in Europe. Alongside several industrial initiatives for heat treatments also scaling up and pilot plant projects for chemical wood modification have recently been carried out. In 2000 an initiative to create a network related to these new developments was supported by the European Commission. Within the work proposed ...
J Van Acker, D Jones


Melamine resins as preservatives results of biological testing
1996 - IRG/WP 96-40061
Based on previous work of the authors on resins, the upgrading of wood with a true solution of a methanol etherificated melamine resin in low aqueous concentration was performed. For the relative assessment of the biological resistance against brown and white-rot fungi were used not only untreated controls of pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris L.), but also heartwood of European larch (Larix decidua M...
A O Rapp, R-D Peek


Characterization of wood decay enzymes by MALDI-MS for post-translational modification and gene identification
2002 - IRG/WP 02-10442
The recent sequencing of the Phanerochaete chrysosporium genome presents many opportunities, including the possibility of rapidly correlating specific wood decay proteins of the fungus with the corresponding gene sequences. Here we compare mass fragments of trypsin digests, determined by MALDI-MS (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Mass Spectrometry), with predicted mass fragments derive...
T H de Koker, P J Kersten


Effects of the sulfuric acid modification of CCA treating solution
1987 - IRG/WP 3415
Sulfuric acid modification of CCA treating solution is often used to control the formation of sludges and undesirable deposits on the surface of treated wood. The consequences of sulfuric acid addition are examined in this work and negative effects are shown to far outweigh any benefits. Major risks include the loss of copper due to leaching from treated wood and the accelerated corrosion of treat...
R F Fox, H J Fry, E A Pasek, A S Ross


A combined method for drying and preserving wood in a single step process
2000 - IRG/WP 00-40183
Based on a convective dryer, this process allows to dry and treat wood blocks with diffusible preservatives in the same time. A boric acid solution (heated to fix the wet temperature of the system) is pumped and introduced in the flow system through a venturi, where the air coming back from the drying cell also arrives. The role of the venturi is to create a dispersion of boric acid solution micro...
O Colin, C Dupuis, E Mougel, A Zoulalian, M-F Thévenon


Blue Staining of Coated Modified and Unmodified Wood
2006 - IRG/WP 06-10589
We investigated resistance of unmodified, DMDHEU modified and oil heat treated uncoated and coated Scots pine wood against blue stain fungi. Both EN 152-1 and the reverse exposure tests showed excellent resistance of DMDHEU and especially of oil heat treated wood against blue staining. It is not needed to add any additional protective coating layers to prevent modified wood from staining. However,...
M Petric, M Pavlic, M Humar, M Tomažic


High-energy multiple impact (HEMI)-test – Part 2: A mechanical test for the detection of fungal decay
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20339
The suitability of the high-energy multiple impact (HEMI)-test for detection of early fungal decay was examined. The HEMI – test characterizes the treatment quality of thermally modified wood by stressing the treated material by thousands of impacts of pounding steel balls. This method differentiates between heat treatment intensities, which are expressed by structural changes of the wood. Simil...
C R Welzbacher, C Brischke, A O Rapp


High-energy multiple impact (HEMI)-test – Part 1: A new tool for quality control of thermally modified timber
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20346
Thermal modification processes improve durability and dimensional stability of wood, but the strength properties, especially the dynamic ones, are compromised and need to be considered with respect to industrial quality control. Results from standard dynamic strength testing, such as impact bending tests, suffer from high variability, and therefore require a high number of replicates. To overcome ...
C Brischke, A O Rapp, C R Welzbacher


The commercialisation of ThermoWood® products
2006 - IRG/WP 06-40339
The concept of thermally modifying timber is well established, which has achieved a limited market breakthrough to date. Commercial application has mainly occurred within Finland, though recent years has seen market gain in several other European countries. This paper reviews the known properties of ThermoWood® timber, based on the combined work of the Finnish ThermoWood® Association, alongside ...
D Jones, E Suttie, J Ala-Viikari, N Bergstrom, D Mayes


Further discussion of biological durability assessments of acetylated wood from several European institutes
2006 - IRG/WP 06-40340
In the last decade, interest in the development of wood modification systems has increased in Europe. Alongside several industrial initiatives for heat treatments, there have also been scaling up and pilot plant projects for chemical wood modification. Between 2000-03, the European Commission funded the "Thematic Network on Wood Modification". This paper features a re-evaluation of work undertaken...
D Jones, W Homan, F Bongers


Molecular methods as a tool within the field of wood protection – available methods and new possibilities
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20361
The area of wood protection is in a period of change. New tools are needed to understand the mode of action, and to further improve the new wood protection systems. A set of useful tools are found among the molecular methods. This paper presents an overview of some of the tools available, and the methods are exemplified by papers within the frame of wood protection issues. However, there is stil...
G Alfredsen, A M Hietala, C G Fossdal, H Solheim


Photo-degradation of modified and non-modified wood, coated with water borne acrylic coatings during artificial light exposure
2007 - IRG/WP 07-30416
A series of experiments were carried out to investigate photo-degradation of thermally modified (at 210oC and – 0.9 bars for two hours) and non-modified spruce wood (Picea abies L (Karst)), coated with transparent and semitransparent (with 3% pigment content) acrylic coatings during artificial UV light irradiation for 200 hours. Photo-degradation was evaluated in terms of colour changes througho...
M Deka, M Tomažic, M Petric


Microwave curing of furfuryl alcohol modified wood
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40371
Furfurylated wood has shown to have promising properties for a wood modification agent during the last years. In this paper, an alternative curing method for furfuryl alcohol modified pine sapwood by means of microwave radiation was investigated. Different process parameters of microwave treatment such as output power, exposure time to microwave radiation, initial wood moisture content and evapor...
A Treu, E Larnøy, H Militz


Effects of heat treatments on decay resistance and material properties of ponderosa pine and yellow poplar
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40374
The potential for using heat treatment to improve the properties of North American fenestration species was evaluated on ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa L) and yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L) treated using the ThermoWood process at various treatment temperatures and times. Soil block tests using Gloeophyllum trabeum, Postia placenta, or Trametes versicolor showed that durability was enh...
C Vidrine, C Freitag, J Nicholson, J J Morrell


Wood furfurylation process development. Part 2: Lowry impregnation trials
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40377
The objective was to evaluate whether Lowry-impregnation of Scots pine with FA100-mix, instead of the FA40-mix, would lead to similar or slightly higher WPGs and to investigate any potential changes in penetration pattern. The results indicate that the penetration was better, also penetrating the outer zone of the heartwood. Furthermore, it was possible to reduce the WPG-levels for pine down to 50...
M Westin, E Larnøy, S Lande


Protection of wood for above ground application through modification with a fatty acid modified N-methylol/paraffin formulation
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40378
Hydrophobic chemical modification can be regarded as an alternative approach to conventional wood preservation using biocides in order to protect wood in hazard class 3 according the European Standard EN 335-1. A formulation containing fatty acid modified N-methylol/paraffin and an aluminium salt catalyst was used to change the material properties of wood in order to protect wood from fungal dec...
Nguyen Hong Minh, H Militz, C Mai


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