Testing and Assessing Method for the Resistance of Wood-Plastic Composites to the Action of Destroying Fungi

Abstract

Durability tests against fungi action for wood-plastic composites are carried out in accordance with European standard ENV 12038, but the authors of the manuscript try to prove that the assessment of the results done according to these methods is imprecise and suffers from a significant error. Fungi exposure is always accompanied by high humidity, so the result of tests made by such method is always burdened with the influence of moisture, which can lead to a wrong assessment of the negative effects of action fungus itself. The manuscript has shown a modification of such a method that separates the destructive effect of fungi from moisture accompanying the test’s destructive effect. The functional properties selected to prove the proposed modification are changes in the mass and bending strength after subsequent environmental exposure. It was found that intensive action of moisture measured in the culture chamber of about (70 ± 5)%, i.e., for 16 weeks, at (22 ± 2) °C, which was the fungi culture, which was accompanying period, led to changes in the mass of the wood-plastic composites, amounting to 50% of the final result of the fungi resistance test, and changes in the bending strength amounting to 30–46% of the final test result. As a result of the research, the correction for assessing the durability of wood-polymer composites to biological corrosion has been proposed. The laboratory tests were compared with the products’ test results following three years of exposure to the natural environment.

Brocas Marinhas E a Biodeterioração Da Madeira No Brasil: Uma Revisão Sistemática

“…Quando se compara com a quantidade de informação obtida sobre outros organismos xilófagos, percebe-se o quanto o nicho das brocas marinhas dentro da biodeterioração da madeira está desatualizado. Atualmente os pesquisadores já possuem as informações necessárias para realizar testes em condições de laboratório sobre fungos e insetos, principalmente fungos apodrecedores e cupins (FREITAS et al, 2020;WIEJAK;FRANCKE, 2021;HADI et al, 2022). Essas informações podem facilita no desenvolvimento de produtos preservativos e na comprovação de sua eficácia.…”

Testing of Materials and Elements in Civil Engineering

“…Durability tests against fungal action for wood-plastic composites are carried out in accordance with European standard ENV 12038, but the authors of the manuscript try to prove that the assessment of the results performed according to these methods is imprecise and suffers from a significant error [ 53 ]. Fungal exposure is always accompanied by high humidity, so the result of tests made by such a method is always burdened with the influence of moisture, which can lead to a wrong assessment of the negative effects of the action of the fungus itself.…”

“…As a result of this research, the correction for assessing the durability of wood–polymer composites against biological corrosion has been proposed. The laboratory tests were compared with the products’ test results following three years of exposure to the natural environment [ 53 ].…”