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Preventivephysical barriers against subterranean termites species for building protection: How to implement innovative materials to reach efficacy requirements
2018 - IRG/WP 18-40845
As the European regulation dealing with the use of biocides (BPR) for preventive protection of buildings against subterranean termites is leading to more and more pressure on physico-chemical barriers currently used (PT18), some existing developments are focusing attention on physical biocides-free barriers. The main target is then to avoid the use of active ingredients, to stay out of the BPR sco...
N Delourme-Fonseca, P Poveda, F Simon


Long service life or cascading? The environmental impact of maintenance of wood-based materials for building envelope and their recycling options
2018 - IRG/WP 18-50336
A major restraint in choosing bio-based materials (i.e. wood-based) for external use, is the lack of confidence that architects, designers and customers have toward these materials. In particular, the limit state of bio-based materials, which defines the frequency of maintenance operations, might be reached earlier for wood than for other materials (i.e. concrete). On the other hand, resource and ...
M Petrillo, J Sandak, P Grossi, A Kutnar, A


2018 Railway Tie Survey and the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials Rulemaking Activities
2019 - IRG/WP 19-50352
This presentation will discuss a survey AAR recently completed on the management of used crossties in the North American rail industry. Approximately 23 million new wood ties are purchased and installed in the North American rail network every year. The presentation will show the number and percentage of ties which are managed by reused in track, reuse in commercial, agricultural or residential la...
R Fronczak, S Smith


Performance of bio-based building materials – durability and moisture dynamics
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20666
When exposed to conditions favourable for decay, bio-based building materials can be susceptible to degradation. Their ability to withstand deterioration over time (performance) depends on the intrinsic or enhanced durability of the material as well as its wetting and drying behaviour. The effect of fungicidal components in wood is known since long. Other material characteristics, such as the mate...
L De Ligne, J Caes, S Omar, J Van den Bulcke, J M Baetens, B De Baets, J Van Acker


Elucidation of reactive sites of wood modified with acetic anhydride: Insights from density functional theory calculations
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40892
Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the interaction of cellulose and lignin with acetic anhydride for explaining the wood modification process. Atoms in molecules (AIM) and reduced density gradient (RDG) along with non-covalent interaction (NCI) plots were used to analyse the intermolecular bonding characteristics. Cellulose was modelled with a cellobiose unit (dimer of glu...
V Ponnuchamy, A Sandak, J Sandak, R Herrera Diaz


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


Biofinish: A Functional Wood Surface Treatment based on Aureobasidium
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40903
Xyhlo Biofinish is a natural and environmentally friendly wood protection concept based on linseed oil impregnation and a fungal-based coating. It emerged in the late 1990s and has been developed over the past 15 years into an industrially applicable process in the Netherlands. The combination of linseed oil impregnation and a surface treatment with the living fungus Aureobasidium extends the serv...
S Rensink, M Sailer, S Roukens, J Gerber, H van der Mel, K Potgieter, J Spit, R Bulthuis, C Struck, M Bennink


Marine borer resistance of various wood materials in Japan
2021 - IRG/WP 21-10983
Wood resistance against marine borer was intensively studied in the 1940s in Japan, but the research activities on the subject diminished afterward, as the use of wooden marine structures and ships decreased. Today, however, use of wood as a construction material is officially promoted for its environmental benefits. The author started to immerse some wood materials in the seawater pool at PARI ...
M Yamada


Assessing the Performance of Wood-based Materials Exposed to Termite Risk – A New Experimental Approach
2022 - IRG/WP 22-10989
Termites are able to degrade a large number of building materials including wood, wood-based panels, biobased insulation, and polymers. The risk for a material of being degraded by termites depends on its composition, on its accessibility, and also on the behavior and the biology of the termite species considered. Within the EU project Click Design, we investigated the durability, under laboratory...
M Kutnik, I Paulmier, C Brunet, D Ansard, M Montibus


Service trial of different materials exposed in jetties at Öresund. Progress report No. 5
2022 - IRG/WP 22-30764
This report contains results of the fifth inspection on the performance of different decking materials – preservative-treated wood, modified wood, natural durable wood, re-cycled plastics and wood-plastic composites (WPCs) - available on the market and exposed since 2013 (some since 2014 and 2016) by the City of Malmö in two jetties near the Øresund Bridge, south of central Malmö in Sweden. T...
J Jermer


Biological assessment of bio-based phase change materials in wood for construction applications
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40935
Solid wood can serve multi-functionality for energy savings in buildings. The study reveals the results of bio-deterioration and degradation of solid Scots pine wood used to incorporate single or multicomponent fatty acid mixtures as bio-based phase change materials (BPCMs). The sapwood samples were impregnated with capric acid (CA), methyl palmitate (MP), lauryl alcohol (LA) and a mixture of coco...
S Palanti, A Temiz, G Köse Demirel, G Hekimoğlu, A Sari, M Nazari, J Gao, M Jebrane, T Schnabel, N Terziev


Evaluation of different wood by-products for sustainable building biomaterial production using fungal mycelium
2022 - IRG/WP 22-50373
As human population increases, the demand for new innovative, sustainable, and low impact construction materials also grows. Mycelium-based composites have shown to be an excellent alternative for traditional products ranging from low-density objects to semi-structural applications. They also present the advantage of using the waste streams from other productive processes as feedstock, enabling th...
C Charpentier-Alfaro, M Poggerini, S Palanti, G Della Rocca, D Pellegrini, A Crisci


Biological durability for novel composites manufactured from green materials
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40960
Flax and Jute fabrics were used as reinforcements with polyester resin to form composite skins while poplar particleboard was used as a core for making composite sandwich structures by applying vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) technique. Mechanical, physical, and biological properties of these novel green composite sandwich structures were evaluated. The results showed that the propo...
A S O Mohareb, A H Hassanin, A A Badr, K T S Hassan, R Farag


Performance of a noise barrier with different wood materials – results from a service trial after 25 years of exposure
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30776
In connection with the construction of the railway connection between Stockholm Arlanda airport and Stockholm city, an 11 km long noise barrier made of untreated European larch was built along the railway line. This provided an opportunity to implement a full-scale study comparing different untreated wood species and preservative treatments. Thus, in March 1996 ten test sections including untreate...
J Jermer, M Westin


Tree bark as a renewable source of wood protection materials for building applications (BarkBuild)
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30792
The BarkBuild project aims to address climate change mitigation by developing new, sustainable, and long-lasting wood building materials with low environmental impact. The project focuses on developing bark-based wood protection and building formulations that demonstrate technical performance, safety, and sustainability in both outdoor and indoor applications. The research objectives of the projec...
A Treu, M Sipponen


Enhanced durability of bio-based materials for green building
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50382
Wood protection technologies provide tools to enhance the durability of bio-based materials for green building. Both wood and related bio-based material are regarded as eminent for green building. It allows to underpin several of the United Nations sustainable development goals and is regarded critical for the Green Deal objectives of the EU. Nevertheless, to enhance the potential it needs to be b...
J Van Acker, L De Ligne, J Vand den Bulcke


Prevention of termite tubing on foam insulation materials
2024 - IRG/WP 24-11039
Foam insulation products have been shown to be damaged by termites who can readily tunnel within it and use it as a conduit within structures. Different types of commercially available foam insulation were tested to see if they could support termite (Coptotermes formosanus, Shiraki) tunnelling on or within them and whether they could be used as a conduit to access a wood food source placed above i...
Q Wu, J Curole, J D Lloyd


Binder-free, fire-resistant, light-weight fiberboard materials encrusted with expandable graphite and borax
2024 - IRG/WP 24-20714
Despite abundant data on innovative fire protection technologies tailored for wood and lignocellulosic materials, the prevailing approach revolves around the formulation of fire retardant solutions employing water-soluble salts, e.g., phosphorus or boron compounds. On the other hand, additives fostering the formation of a char layer during the combustion of lignocellulosic materials as a non-leach...
W Perdoch, W Grześkowiak, B Mazela


Evaluation of mass timber materials for military and commercial trailer decking
2024 - IRG/WP 24-41009
In this study, CLT trailer decking was manufactured to current military trailer decking specifications, verified using PRG320 performance criteria, and treated with either waterborne or oil borne wood preservatives. Preliminary results show adequate uptake of preservative solution and subsequent testing shows minimal effect due to treatment. Field durability tests are also being conducted of treat...
G Kirker, A Senalik, X Wang, K Ohno, R Arango, M Mankowski, X Xie, J Eskola, N Kamprath, S Karwaczynski, M Weaver


Biofabrication of composite materials – Utilizing lignocellulosic biomass and mycelium in 3D printing
2024 - IRG/WP 24-50396
In this research, we investigated the potential of utilising lignocellulosic biomass and mycelium for 3D printing applications to develop sustainable biocomposite materials. Our study began with a systematic investigation of various fungal cultures, including Pleurotus ostreatus, Schizophyllum commune, Ganoderma resinaceum, Trametes versicolor and Gloeophyllum trabeum, in combination with substrat...
D Krzisnik, B Žuran, M Kariž, M Humar


Functional Analysis of Cellobiose Dehydrogenase from the Saprotrophic Basidiomycete Coprinopsis cinerea
2025 - IRG/WP 25-11076
The plant saprophytic fungi including wood rotting fungi secrete various extracellular hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes to degrade wood cell wall. Among these, cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is known as a flavoheme enzyme composed of a flavin domain with FAD and a b-type heme domain. CDH oxidises the reducing end of cellobiose, and transfers electrons to redox partners such as lytic polysaccharide...
Y Sakka, A Hosaka, M Yoshida


CIOL Wood - Scientific Innovations in Wood Modification for Enhanced Performance and Usage
2025 - IRG/WP 25-20743
CIOL® is a wood modification technology designed as an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional wood preservatives. Utilising a biobased formulation based on sorbitol and citric acid, CIOL® enhances wood's chemical structure, improving its durability, stability, and resistance to decay. This paper provides an overview of the advancements made in CIOL® technology, including its improv...
E Larnøy, A Treu, M Diraison, M Smith, A Audouin, P T Lewandowski, J Biørnstad


Transformation of bamboo: From multiscale fibers to robust and degradable cellulose-based materials for plastic substitution
2025 - IRG/WP 25-41032
Bamboo is an ideal candidate to replace traditional plastics, reduce environmental pollution, and promote harmony between nature and humanity owing to its rapid growth and renewability. However, achieving arbitrary shape-shifting of bamboo while retaining its high strength and degradability remains challenging. This study used multiscale interface engineering to transform bamboo into a robust, bio...
J Hu, Y Zhang, Y He, Z Su, W Lao, S Zhang, Y Yu, W Yu, Y Huang


Biocomposites based on fungal mycelium and beech particles impregnated with BPCM (bio-phase change material) for thermal energy storage
2025 - IRG/WP 25-41034
The building sector is a major contributor to Europe's carbon emissions, and transition to a bio-based economy is essential for achieving long-term sustainability goals. The European Union has set ambitious targets for climate-neutral heating and cooling by 2050, which requires the widespread adoption of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. A key element in this transition i...
E Nigrone, F De Francesco, J Conti, M Jebrane, M Nazari, N Terziev, S Palanti


Recycling wood treated with copper-based preservatives to produce hard carbon materials for energy storage applications
2025 - IRG/WP 25-50401
In this study, we explored the possibility of recycling wood treated with copper-based preservatives to produce hard carbon materials for use in energy storage devices. We pyrolsed both untreated and copper-treated wood into hard carbon, conducted microstructural and physicochemical characterisation, prepared electrode materials, and evaluated their electrochemical performance in sodium-ion batter...
D Huo, J-P Bonnet, A Jamali


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