Predicting the outdoor moisture performance of wood based on laboratory indicators

Emmerich, Lukas (author), Brischke, Christian (author), Sievert, Marten (author), Schulz, Manuel S. (author), Jaeger, Anne-Cathrin (author), Beulshausen, Arne (author), Humar, Miha (author)

The service life of wood in outdoor use under humid conditions is mainly determined by its material resistance and the exposure situation. Different standards such as EN 350 (2016) point on the relevance of wood’s resistance against moisture for its expected service life. Recently, different standardized but also numerous nonstandardized methods were suggested to test the water permeability of wooden materials. In the context of this study, different European-grown softand hardwoods, tropical hardwoods, modified wood and wood treated with water- and oil-borne preservatives were subjected to floating and submersion tests according to CEN/TS 16818 (2018) and different short-term water uptake and release tests. Moisture performance data from field tests with the same materials were analyzed and used to assess the predictive power of different laboratory moisture indicators. The moisture characteristics suggested by CEN/TS 16818 (2018)—rm$_{168}$ (residual moisture content after water uptake and release processes) and res$_{312}$ (residue as a percentage of the absorbed moisture)—showed the little potential to predict the outdoor moisture performance of the tested materials. In contrast, the mean moisture content during absorption and desorption (MC$_{mean}$) predicted well the outdoor moisture performance of the materials under test. Short-term water uptake and release of small specimens also showed high predictive power.

• Language: English
• Keywords: absorption-desorption tests, EN 16818, material resistance, residual moisture content, service life prediction
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: 24 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 11, iss. 9, art. 1001
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-134475
• UDC: 630*1
• ISSN on article: 1999-4907
• DOI: 10.3390/f11091001
• COBISS.SI-ID: 28820483
• Publication date in RUL: 17.01.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Forests
• Shortened title: Forests
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1999-4907
• COBISS.SI-ID: 3872166

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 17.09.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: testi adsorpcije in desorpcije, EN 16818, odpornost lesa, vrednotenje življenjske dobe, vlažnost lesa