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Deterioration of wood viewed from iron nail
1991 - IRG/WP 2368
Deterioration of nail was graded by a five - rank numerical - rating. The rating of nail moisture content and decay of wood were inspected in a mortal-wall of 34-year-old house. The wood was mostly in decay, when the rating of the nail was above about 4, and the moisture content was above about 20%. Nailed wood specimens kept in several humidity room of 20°C for 4 years showed that the rating of ...
H Imamura


In search of excellence - A necessary challenge
1990 - IRG/WP 3567
Consumerism and environmentalism are gaining much influence. At national and E.C.-level the policy conducted is based on prevention of pollution through "sound" wood preservatives. Supposing that "environmental friendly" products do not exist it is understood that "sound" products have least effect on the environment during their whole life cycle. In the past only the effectiveness was paramount, ...
G Rustenburg


Environmental consequences of various materials in utility poles - A life cycle analysis
1992 - IRG/WP 92-3726
A model for environmental life cycle analysis, LCA, has been created to compare environmental impact from transmission poles, made alternatively of concrete, steel, aluminium and pine wood treated with CCA type B or creosote. The main pollution sources and energy use are included in the LCA. One pole size, 12 meters long, is presented in the study, a so called "45 kV" pole. Poles of different mate...
M Erlandsson, K Ödeen, M-L Edlund


Service Life Prediction of Wood Claddings by in-situ Measurement of Wood Moisture Content
2004 - IRG/WP 04-20304
The Danish Technological Institute is in co-operation with industry partners running a project aiming at predicting the service life of different wood protecting systems. The project focuses on examining the moisture reducing effect of different wood claddings and the ability to maintain the appearance of the surfaces, when the wood is used in service class 3. A façade construction is exposed t...
B Lindegaard, N Morsing


Detection of increased metal cations after wood decay using Chromeazurol-S
1997 - IRG/WP 97-20112
Chromeazurol-S (CAS) is a dye used for the spectrophotometric determination of metals, mainly aluminum (Al), berillium (Be) and copper (Cu). CAS has been widely used for determining the penetration of copper containing preservatives like CCA (AWPA A3-96). Additional uses include: i) detection of utility pole decay (Esyln, 1979), ii) a chemical spot test for aluminum in wood (Kukachka and Miller, 1...
F Green III, U Srinivasan, R B Miller


Environmental evaluation of products by life cycle analysis [La problématique de lévaluation environnementale des produits à partir de l'analyse de leur cycle de vie et de leur "écobilan"]
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50002
In the last years a significant evolution in terms of industrial environment emerged. It has been realized that regulations on specific pollutants, controls on industrial sites, although indispensable actions, had to be completed with extended approaches based on the assessment of products and integrated substance chain management. To take into account such an approach, methodological researches h...
G C Landrieu


Comparison of the anti-fungal efficacy of Cobra with drill perforation on oscillating pressure treated spruce transmission poles -Laboratory test
1988 - IRG/WP 3469
A laboratory method for measuring the depth of penetration of the fungicidal concentrations effective against basidiomycetes (brown rot) was developed. The tests on CCB oscillating pressure treated spruce transmission poles have shown that the depth of salt penetration can be increased by about 10 mm by a drill perforation before the impregnation. An even better penetration is reached, however, if...
E Graf, B Zgraggen


Assessment of the environmental impacts in life cycle analysis
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-31
Evaluation of environmental impacts is of crucial importance nowadays but it is a complex problem. Different methodologies have been proposed for the last 20 years such as the "Life Cycle Assessment" (LCA) approach. Life Cycle Assessment is an evalution tool of the impacts on the environment of a system including the whole activities associated with, from the extraction of the raw materials to the...
I Blanc-Sommereux


Some fundamental thoughts on the prediction of field performance from lab-testing based on comparison of lab and field test results of some copper-free materials
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20269
In the paper results from lab testing (ENV 807 and EN 113) are compared with field results (EN 252) of differently treated wood. Depending on the type of the organic biocide containing material and depending on type of soil and type of decay differences were found in suitability of the lab methods to predict field performance. The attempt is made to interpret the found differences. Furthermore it ...
A O Rapp, U Augusta


Increased biological durability differs for traditional wood preservation and new non-biocidal systems (NBS)
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20212
Wood preservation is a way to increase the biological durability of wood by the addition of chemical components with a biocidal effect. The effect of such treatment is clearly concentration dependent. At distinct levels of fungicide concentration fungi are killed or inhibited in their enzymatic functioning to provide nutrients. The toxic limits allow decision-makers to provide treating prescriptio...
J Van Acker, M Stevens


Proposal for a method aiming at the quantification of the impact of wood extraction in Life Cycle Assessment
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50113
Life Cycle Assessment has been accepted as an instrument for the assessment of the environmental impact of products. Characterisation factors for impact assessment of emissions from products have been established. To date no characterisation factor exists for the extraction of biotic resources, for example wood. Since the main disadvantage of using wood as a material lies in the extraction of reso...
P Esser, E Van der Voet


Accelerated anti-termite laboratory tests, simulation of field conditions and assessment of results for service life
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20034
Termites are one of the most serious biodegrading agents in the tropics. Though some species of termites occur in the warmer temperate regions, only a few species can withstand the rigours of colder regions. Testing of termite resistance of material is done either by field tests or by accelerated laboratory tests. Field tests, though realistic to assess service life, are elaborate, take a long tim...
P K Sen-Sarma


The association of bacteria with the increased permeability of water-stored spruce wood
1973 - IRG/WP 325
A microbiological investigation was undertaken to check our earlier work on patterns of bacterial counts and pH changes in water-stored wood. A survey of industrial activity was conducted upstream from the storage site with a view to explaining the existing bacterial flora. Further experiments were carried out with spruce bolts in enclosed tanks, using lake water with its natural bacterial flora a...
J A Dunleavy, J P Moroney, S E Rossell


Treatment groups and remedies for CCA treated hardwood and softwood poles
1999 - IRG/WP 99-40142
Different hardwood and softwood species from Bangladesh and Bhutan was investigated regarding density, green fiber stress, natural durability of heartwood and CCA treated sapwood, CCA treatability grades, sapwood thickness, and kiln-drying properties for long term use as electric poles. These properties along with the past service records for nineteen years, separated ten heardwood and five softwo...
A K Lahiry


CCA-treated Wood Disposed in Landfills and Life-cycle Trade-Offs With Waste-to-Energy and MSW Landfill Disposal
2005 - IRG/WP 05-50231
CCA-treated wood as a solid waste is managed in various ways throughout the world. Although some wood is combusted for the production of energy in the U.S., more often than not, CCA-treated wood is disposed in landfills. In other countries, wood, often including CCA-treated wood, is combusted for the production of energy. This paper is presented in two parts. Part I evaluates the impact of CCA-tre...
J Jambeck, K Weitz, T G Townsend, H M Solo-Gabriele


Preliminary desk research in the Netherlands on development of a Knowledge Based System for Life Cycle Assessment of wood products
1997 - IRG/WP 97-50093
TNO is currently coordinating an EC-project (LIFE-SYS WOOD) to develop a consistent approach to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of wood products. Existing and new LCA-inventory data of six wood products will be evaluated on reliability and consistency. After validation, LCA-results will be made available through a Knowledge Based System (by 1998-1999). The aim of the KBS is to make LCA-results availab...
P Esser, D Robson, R Vanhauten


Life cycle approached environmental information to promote treated timber
2005 - IRG/WP 05-50224-13
This paper exemplifies the possibilities to compare products and product systems with help of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool for environmental assessment. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has developed a concept for evaluation of environmental impacts based on normalisation, based on so called environmental quality objectives (EQO). This concept makes it possible to compare a pr...
M Erlandsson


Life Cycle Assessment of borate treated wood
2005 - IRG/WP 05-50224-12
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is being used increasingly around the world by decision-makers to help incorporate the environmental component of sustainability into their activities. U.S. Borax regularly assesses how its products contribute to sustainable development. Using data gleaned from LCA of its products, the company recently completed its first ISO 14040 compliant cradle-to-grave LCA of lum...
M J Manning


Present status of using treated wood and private house owner’s expectations in Bangladesh
2004 - IRG/WP 04-30329
In a developing country like Bangladesh more than 80 % of the total population lives in rural areas where building materials are mainly comprised of wood, bamboo, thatch grass, golpata, etc. All these materials, being cellulosic, are easily infected by deteriorating agencies like fungi, termites, beetles etc., as climatic condition of the country is ideal for their thrive. This is a great wastage ...
M A Islam, A K M A Bosunia, S C Ghosh, M O Hannan, A K Lahiry


Whitewood - An external joinery timber?
1975 - IRG/WP 253
The timber used traditionally for softwood joinery in the UK is redwood (Pinus sylvestris). In the past its ready availability in the desired sizes and quality and its durability in service encouraged little competition. However, the past decade has seen some erosion of this position, particularly through the increased proportion of sapwood in redwood supplies. Since the sapwood is less durable th...
J W W Morgan


The effects of pH on leaching of copper-chrome-arsenate (CCA) from pressure-treated Kenyan-grown Eucalyptus saligna and Acacia mearnsii: Initial findings.
2002 - IRG/WP 02-30298
The effects of pH on leaching of CCA from pressure-treated Kenyan-grown Eucalyptus saligna and Acacia mearnsii were tested under laboratory conditions. Small samples of the two species (100mm x 30mm x 40mm) were smooth sawn from 8-year old trees to represent equal amounts of both sapwood and heartwood, air-dried to 12% moisture content, end-sealed, and pressure-treated at a commercial treatment p...
R Venkatasamy


Minimisation of the Environmental Impacts of Coatings on Exterior Wood by Optimisation of their Life Spans
2003 - IRG/WP 03-50197
The study has shown that the environmental impacts from coatings on exterior wood are dependent criteria on their life spans. A minimisation of the environmental impacts can be performed with the help of the integrated design model, which is tested in this study. The optimal life spans, found as reference service lives from the exposure tests, statistical evaluation and the assessment of experts w...
L Strömberg


Social and economocal impact of an extension of service life resulting of an adequate preventive treatment. Application to wooden components used in urban areas with a high density of population
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50001-15
Le document évalue les problèmes rencontrés en zone urbaine pour le sauvetage des constructions: coordination de la lutte, délimination des chantieres et des périmètres d'investigation, nuisances causées par les interventions, risques pour la santé, risques pour l'environnement. Coûts. Comparaison socio-économique du traitement préventif et des interventions à posteri...
A T De Lelis, G A C Lopez


L-joint based testing for service life prediction of exterior plywood in out of ground contact conditions
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20342
Good biological performance of several plywood types in exterior conditions is most probably related to altered wood moisture behaviour compared to solid wood. Therefore a test set up was developed, using EN 330 L-joint testing methodology, to facilitate differentiation of plywood for exterior applications. The proposed test set up is an adaptation of an accelerated L-joint method introduced by V...
J De Smet, I De Windt, J Van Acker


How to win friends and influence the market — Service Life Prediction and performance-based durability assessments of wood products in construction
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20348
Due to direct and implied demands from the market and from e.g. the EU Construction Products Directive, the need to supply service life estimates for building products is growing. For several years, a development of Service Life Prediction (SLP) methodologies has been going on, but the awareness of this development has hitherto reached only a very limited extent in the wood sector. For materials w...
F Englund


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