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Effects of boron formulation on specific timber types used in ships of historical importance
1991 - IRG/WP 3676
This paper reports results of preservative treatment and leaching experiments, using borax, polybor and boracol 20, on small wood blocks of English oak and American pitch pine heartwood. Earlier experiments on the performance of various biocides as possible additives to bilgewater to prevent fungal decay of shipping timbers had suggested that some formulations of boron might be associated with phy...
B King, G M Smith, J W Palfreyman, S McCutcheon


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


Wood plastic composites from modified wood; Part 1 - Conceptual idea, mechanical and physical properties
2006 - IRG/WP 06-40338
Wood plastic composites, WPCs, are rapidly taking shares from preservative treated wood on the decking market. However, the long term performance of the WPC products in this application is uncertain. Therefore, in an attempt to increase the long term performance and durability, the substitution of the unmodified wood component with modified wood has been studied in the work presented in this paper...
P Larsson Brelid, B K Segerholm, M Westin, M E P Wålinder


The Effect of Wick Action upon Moisture Distribution in Ellagate Treated Pinus radiata Wood
2006 - IRG/WP 06-40328
Sapwood stakes of Pinus radiata D. Don were treated with water-soluble tetraguanidinium, tetracholine and tetrakis-benzyltrimethylammonium ellagates. The effect of these treatments upon moisture distribution was investigated by wick action. Given that chemical reactions within the wood substrate between nutrients and treatment solutions may alter the properties of the wood with regard to moistur...
S R Przewloka, B J Shearer, J A Hann


Service life prediction of plywood
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20367
Plywood is the wood based panel showing the best physical and mechanical properties for application under moist construction conditions. Appropriate physico-mechanical durability for exterior applications in transportation or construction systems can be guaranteed by assessment of the glue bond quality and mechanical characteristics. However, due to the fact that mainly non-durable wood species ar...
J Van Acker, J De Smet


Use of Moisture Meters with Treated Wood
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40382
Drying wood treated with waterborne preservatives after treatment to near outdoor EMC conditions improves its physical performance characteristics. This is primarily due to the reduced checking, splitting and warping which can occur when wet wood, particularly if restrained from shrinking by being nailed or otherwise fastened, shrinks in use. Monitoring of the drying process, rate, and end point...
W B Smith, Hwan Myeong Yeo, C Stark, B Morey, C Tascioglu, P Schneider, D Herdman, M Freeman


Effect of fiber type and content on the natural durability of wood flour/high density polyethylene composites against rainbow fungus (Coriolus versicolor)
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40387
In order to evaluate the effect of fiber type and content on the natural durability of wood flour/high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites against Coriolus versicolor, samples containing 25% and 50% by weight of various natural fibers and HDPE were selected. Natural fibers included in the study were wood flour, rice hulls, hemp fibers and newsprint. Samples containing 25% and 50% natural fiber ...
A Karimi, M Tajvidi, S Pourabbasi


Water Absorption of Various Building Materials and Mold Growth
2008 - IRG/WP 08-10657
Mold growth is a major problem for house owners, as it often occurs on the surface of building materials in damp houses. The principal method to control mold growth on building materials is to prevent water penetration into the materials. A study was recently conducted to determine water absorption rates of different wood species and panel materials used as building materials, when water intrusi...
Dian-Qing Yang


In-service performance of wood depends upon the critical in-situ conditions. Case studies.
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20382
Wood is a unique building material, but is by nature designed to deteriorate. A detailed understanding of the factors and interactions involved are important when working with service life prediction of wooden components in buildings. Wood may experience exponential fungal degradation caused by variation in the climatic factors within a small limited area and by minor imperfection in the wooden ...
L Ross Gobakken, J Mattsson, G Alfredsen


A preliminary note on the role of moisture absorption rate in durability assessment
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20383
The rate of moisture uptake was studied in 15 wood species using vermiculite at varying moisture levels as the exposure medium. As might be expected, moisture uptake varied widely among the species studied. While some of the more durable wood species were also resistant to moisture uptake, this was not always true. The results are discussed in relation to performance in under varying environmenta...
J J Morrell, L P Francis


Service life prediction of wood: scale-dependent tools within a bio-engineering framework
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20387
Service life prediction (SLP) is a complex yet essential method for the building industry. Accurate and precise assessment of the components is crucial for a strong position of wood on the market. As it is a biological material, wood has an inherent variability and is susceptible to fungal attack. Therefore a profound knowledge of these characteristics is the corner stone of SLP for wood products....
J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker, M Stevens


Effects of acetic acid and nitric acid pre-treatment on copper content of spruce wood treated with CBA-A and CCA
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40406
This work investigates the effects of nitric acid and acetic acid on compression strength values and copper retention contents of refractory spruce wood (Picea oriental L.) treated with the waterborne preservative Copper azole, (CBA-A, Tanalith-E 3492) and copper / chrom / arsenic (CCA). Before the CBA-A and CCA treatment, the samples were immersed in 500 ml of nitric and acetic acid solutions for...
S Yildiz, E Dizman, Ü C Yildiz


Chemical Analysis in Production Quality Control at Wood Treatment Plants
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20396
Analysis methods for quality control analysis in wood treatment plants have evolved with the changes in treatment preservative chemistries and analytical instrument technology. The basic hydrometer specific gravity measurements used for solution strength and classic wet chemistry methods for wood have given way to instrumental techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, automatic titrator, and HPLC. No...
P Walcheski, L Jin


Laboratory and field exposures of FRT plywood: Part 1. Physical test data
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40426
Our understanding of the laboratory induced degradation with fire retardant systems is currently limited since we are unable to correlate laboratory steady-state experiments with actual in-service field degradation. Current model studies have generally been limited to isothermal rate studies with selected model FR chemicals. Other factors also play a major role in the degradation of FR-treated woo...
H M Barnes, J E Winandy, C R McIntyre


Accelerated weathering of nine tropical wood species from Cameroon
2009 - IRG/WP 09-10705
The natural durability of tropical species for building components has been a subject of recent concern and questioning, mainly the resistance to weathering. Weathering resistance of nine tropical species from Cameroon, namely Azobe, Bilinga, Bubinga, Teak, Dousie, Moabi, Musanga, Sipo and Padauk were evaluated using an accelerated weatherometer for 2016 hours. Measurement of moisture fluctuation,...
S Pankras, Jinzhen Cao, D P Kamdem


Moisture adsorption isotherms of wood studies using a dynamic vapour sorption apparatus
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20398
Five types of wood including two Malaysian hardwoods acacia mangium (Acacia mangium) and sesenduk (Endospermum malaccense), two temperate softwoods, Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), radiata pine (Pinus radiata) and Accoya (commercially modified wood) were studied to determine their moisture sorption behaviour using a Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) apparatus. The isotherm plot for each species teste...
J Zaihan, C A S Hill, S Curling


Building with termites: The challenge of biomimetic design for carbon neutral buildings.
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20405
The main aim of this paper is to present humanity and termites as design partners in the creation of a new dimension of ecosystem understanding. “Beyond biomimicry: What termites can tell us about realizing the living building”, Turner and Soar (2008) opens up a new era in how we think of human habitations, not only on earth, but maybe on other planets, and using the termite model as the corne...
J R J French, B M Ahmed (Shiday)


Evaluation of exposure conditions for wooden facades and decking
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20408
During their functional life, building components are exposed to moisture and other environment stress conditions in numerous ways. This is a fact that should be taken into account during manufacture, product development, designing and work execution of building components. For wood material, moisture stress and biological factors like mould and decay fungi are often critical in cladding and decki...
H Viitanen, T Toratti, R Peuhkuri, T Ojanen, L Makkonen


Continuous moisture measurement (CMM) to detect failure of moisture resistance
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20422
A wood coating system will fail to perform properly after a certain time of weathering. From that moment, the substrate is especially prone to fungal attack. Moisture plays a key role on weathering performance, wood protection efficacy and decay susceptibility of wood. Therefore, knowledge of the moisture dynamics of the applied wood protection is of significant importance in the prediction of the...
I De Windt, J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker


Analysis on dynamics of basidiomycetes in decayed wood by a method using non-specific amplification of DNA
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20426
A combination of non-specific amplification of DNA by Phi29 DNA polymerase and specific amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to elucidate the ratio of basidiomycete species inhabiting decayed wood from an outdoor bench. After more than 8 hours incubation with Phi29 DNA polymerase, concentration of DNA ...
T Wada, K Igarashi, M Samejima


Wood properties influencing the penetration of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) sapwood with the wood modification agent furfuryl alcohol
2009 - IRG/WP 09-40470
The European standard EN 350-2 classifies Scots pine sapwood as class 1 (easy to treat). However large variations in sapwood penetration exist which affect a homogenous distribution of preservatives. Hence individual penetration schemes have to be developed and adjusted to the material most difficult to treat in order to provide adequate sapwood penetration. To ensure better economic process con...
K Zimmer, E Larnøy, G Koch


The effect of chemical changes on the wood-moisture relationships in thermally-modified wood
2009 - IRG/WP 09-40473
Small specimens of three wood species were thermally modified following twenty schedules in the 190-245°C temperature range for treatment times between 0.3 and 16 h. Five wood-moisture relations were subsequently determined, namely: anti-swelling efficiency (ASE), movement, hygroscopicity (adsorption and desorption), transversal swelling (radial and tangential directions), and equilibrium moistur...
M M González-Peña, M D C Hale


DNA-based tools for rapidly detecting, quantifying and monitoring ophiostomatoid fungi on beetles, in trees and wood products
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20450
Approximately half of the trees harvested for commercial purposes are lost because of native or introduced insects or insect-vectored microorganisms. Ophiostomatoid fungi, which are well adapted to dissemination by insects, include ~140 species of saprobes and pathogens. They are present worldwide, have high economical impact and many are subject to quarantine regulation. Thus, it is necessary to ...
L Khadempour, Young Woon Lim, S Massoumi Alamouti, C Breuil


Drying Rates and Mold Growth on Various Building Materials under Different Environmental Conditions
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20454
Mold growth on building materials is a major problem for homeowners. The most suitable method to control mold growth on building materials is to utilize design features, construction tools and practices that prevent moisture accumulation, and keep the wood as dry as possible. In order to achieve this, engineers and homebuilders have to know the effects of various temperature and moisture conditi...
Dian-Qing Yang


Finite Element Modelling of the Checking of Wood Exposed to Accelerated Weathering
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20459
The surface checking that develops when wood is exposed to the weather reduces the visual appeal of treated wood products and can reduce the effectiveness of preservative treatments. There is strong interest in developing solutions to this problem and also a growing realization that such solutions may evolve from a deeper understanding of the mechanisms responsible for surface checking. In this pa...
S G Ribarits, P D Evans


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