Reaction-to-Fire of Wood Products and Other Building Materials: Part 1, Room/Corner Test Performance

Abstract A large-scale test set-up was designed to evaluate the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions of building materials in a real room situation but under laboratory conditions. Two model rooms (ModR) with a volume of 30 m3 each were constructed of the wood-based building materials X-lam and OSB, respectively. Temperature and relative humidity (RH) inside the ModR were kept in a range of 21°C–25°C and 45%–55% RH. VOCs were collected at 13 different times over a period of 23 weeks, and the total VOC (TVOC) concentration was calculated from GC/MS data. Results were quantified as toluene equivalents (TE). In the X-lam-ModR, the TVOC concentration decreased by 64% over the whole measurement period from 115 to 41 μg m-3 TE. Terpenes were the most abundant substance group and accounted, on average, for 80% of the TVOC concentration. In the OSB-ModR, the TVOC concentration decreased by 72% from 443 to 124 μg m-3 TE. Aldehydes showed the highest concentrations, accounting, on average, for 52% of the TVOC, while 38% were terpenes. The results show that this type of test provides realistic data for the praxis.

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Eco-labeled wood products in the U.S. residential construction industry: Architects’ awareness and usage of certified wood and green building programs

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc2014-124 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 90 (05) ◽

pp. 605-613 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tait Bowers ◽

Indroneil Ganguly ◽

Ivan Eastin

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Green Building ◽

Design Guidelines ◽

Wood Products ◽

Residential Construction ◽

Efficient Design ◽

Renewable Materials ◽

Environmental Friendliness ◽

Certified Wood ◽

The U.S

The use of environmentally friendly building materials has experienced slow growth within the residential construction market due to higher cost and low availability of certified wood. The development of green building programs (GBPs) marked the beginning of the effort to adopt energy-efficient design guidelines and utilize eco-friendly renewable materials in structures. These programs were targeted at reducing environmental impacts by integrating eco-friendly materials into the design and construction of buildings, including promoting the use of environmentally certified wood products (ECWPs) harvested from sustainably managed forests. This research was designed to determine which attributes influence architects’ decisions to use environmentally certified wood products in residential construction projects and how this might influence their perceptions and use of green building programs. The results indicate that architects who have participated in a GBP were more likely to have used ECWPs. The material attributes that influence architects’ selection of materials are mainly related to economics and function as opposed to environmental friendliness. These results will help to inform and broaden the understanding of issues that influence the adoption and utilization of environmentally certified wood products, and identify some of the factors that can contribute to their continued growth in the U.S. marketplace.

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Oregon design professionals views on structural building products in green buildings: implications for wood

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x10-209 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 390-400 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Chris Knowles ◽

Christine Theodoropoulos ◽

Corey Griffin ◽

Jennifer Allen

Keyword(s):

Structural Material ◽

Environmental Performance ◽

Building Materials ◽

Material Selection ◽

Green Building ◽

Wood Products ◽

Forest Stewardship Council ◽

Rating Systems ◽

Forest Stewardship ◽

Group Interviews

Buildings have been shown to have impacts on the environment. Consequently, green building rating systems have become a tool to help reduce these impacts. The objectives of this study were to identify gaps in information and access to green building materials as viewed by Oregon design professionals. The scope was limited to the major structural materials: concrete, steel, and wood. This article focuses on the results unique to wood products. Information was collected through group interviews. Each group was composed of professionals representing different aspects of material selection and construction of different scales. The results showed that structural material selection is driven by building code, cost, and building performance requirements. The environmental performance of the material was not considered. However, once the material was selected, designers tried to maximize environmental performance. The results showed that green building rating systems do not influence structural material selection, and interviewees noted that there is room for improvement in this area. Respondents had a positive view of wood and a strong desire to use more wood, particularly Forest Stewardship Council certified wood. Wood was viewed as the most sustainable structural material available. However, there were some concerns about wood products, with formaldehyde emissions being the most significant.

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Green gold of Africa – Can growing native bamboo in Ethiopia become a commercially viable business?

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc2014-127 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 90 (05) ◽

pp. 628-635 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Felix Böck

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Construction Materials ◽

Wood Products ◽

Raw Material ◽

Sustainable Construction ◽

Sustainable Business ◽

Subtropical Zone ◽

New Construction ◽

Increasing Demand

With concerns about climate change and the search for sustainable construction materials, significant attention is now being paid to Africa's natural resources. Ethiopia, known as Africa's political capital, has a rapidly expanding economy with increasing demand for new construction materials. Through public private partnerships projects the country is developing a sustainable business model to promote bamboo as a raw material. The subtropical zone of Ethiopia is home to approximately 65% of Africa's bamboo resources, an area of over 1 million hectares. Bamboo is potentially an ideal source of local, sustainable purpose-engineered building materials for growing cities not only in Ethiopia but across Africa. Production of conventional construction materials such as steel and concrete is expensive, highly energy intensive and unsustainable, requiring large quantities of water and is strongly dependent on imported raw materials. Bamboo is a renewable building material widely cultivated in Ethiopia but not yet utilized in modern construction. Structural Bamboo Products (SBP), similar to engineered wood products, have excellent potential to partially replace the use of more energy-intensive materials. Projects such as African Bamboo are taking steps in managing, cultivating and using Ethiopian bamboo species to help mitigate rapid deforestation in East Africa by creating alternative “wood” sources and sustainable business opportunities.

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Mineral-Bonded Wood Composites: An Alternative Building Materials

10.5772/intechopen.98988 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Halil Turgut Sahin ◽

Yasemin Simsek

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Mechanical Energy ◽

Construction Materials ◽

Building Design ◽

Wood Products ◽

Strength Ratio ◽

Wood Composites ◽

Efficient Construction ◽

Cost Efficient ◽

End Use

The manufacturing of cost-efficient construction materials is at the center of attention these days. The development of engineeringly design products has occurred mostly over the past few decades. However, the term of mineral bonded wood composite is relatively new, covers many of the products, and is used to describe a material that is produced by bonding woody material with mineral-based substrates. At present, millions of tons of bio-based composite materials are now manufactured annually from many wood species. Woods are sustainable and engineeringly have enough performance properties in composite matrix systems for many end-use areas. Thus, their utilization processes and intended uses vary accordingly. But at manufacturing, many variables affect binder hydration in composite structure and the networking/bonding between wood and binder. The mineral bonded wood products are high in density and the appropriate strength in the construction industry, an important advantage to engineering applications appears to lie in their ability to absorb and dissipate mechanical energy. Despite their higher weight-to-strength ratio, especially cement and gypsum bonded wood composites have become popular, for use in many internal and external applications to meet increasingly stringent building design regulations for insulation, and failure in service due to deterioration.

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Building Materials as Potential Emission Sources of VOC in the Indoor Environment of Buildings

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.838.74 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 838 ◽

pp. 74-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katarína Harčárová ◽

Silvia Vilčeková ◽

Magdalena Balintova

Keyword(s):

Indoor Environment ◽

Building Materials ◽

Consumer Products ◽

Wood Products ◽

Emission Sources ◽

Indoor Environments ◽

Indoor Sources ◽

Household Products ◽

Internal Sources ◽

Mutagenic Effects

People spend most of their time in various indoor spaces and their health is exposed to different kinds of air pollutants. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) belong to a group of chemical substances polluting the indoor environment. They come into the interior of buildings mainly from internal sources in the form of building materials, flooring, composite wood products, adhesives and other consumer products. Their presence in indoor air is monitored, due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on human health. Many studies of indoor environment contaminated by VOC have been published during the last years. The present study provides general overview of the occurrence and emission sources of VOCs in the indoor environment of different types of buildings. The most frequently monitored indoor organic pollutants in terms of their occurrence and health risk are BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes), terpenes (α-pinene and d-limonene) and aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and benzaldehyde). Their concentrations in different indoor environments are variable and depend on factors such as emission characteristics of sources, microclimatic and ventilation conditions. Formaldehyde and toluene levels increased significantly with increasing room temperature. Benzene enters the indoor environment of buildings from external sources, especially from traffic or industrial areas. Formaldehyde, α-pinene and d-limonene originate from indoor sources as a part of building materials, furniture and household products.

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How Are Wood and Non-Wood Forest Products Utilized in the Czech Republic? A Preliminary Assessment of a Nationwide Survey on the Bioeconomy

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12020566 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 566 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ratna C. Purwestri ◽

Miroslav Hájek ◽

Miroslava Šodková ◽

Vilém Jarský

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Energy Resource ◽

Forest Products ◽

Nationwide Survey ◽

Sampling Procedure ◽

Wood Products ◽

Added Value ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Related Factors ◽

Quota Sampling

The Czech forests occupy 33.7% of the total country area; thus, wood and non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are important resources for the country. To date, the country has not adopted a forest bioeconomy strategy. A forest bioeconomy is defined as all activities that relate to the forest ecosystem services (FES). This study aimed to provide an initial evaluation regarding the use of forest products and related factors, and to make recommendations on developing wood consumption and promoting other FES for the adoption of a forest bioeconomy strategy in the country. The research study was part of a nationwide survey in June 2019. An online panel of 1050 respondents aged 18–65 years old was recruited based on a quota sampling procedure. Wood products were the most preferred material for furniture (96.3%) and building materials (46.3%). In total, 38.6% of Czech residents used wood as a source of energy, mostly in the form of firewood. It is challenging to switch the practice from using fossil-based heating to wood boiler energy source. The further development of wood into products with a high added value is recommended. Picking mushrooms and berries were among the popular activities in relation to NWFPs. The promotion of wood and NWFPs is encouraged, starting with increasing awareness and knowledge of the strength of the forest-based sector as a renewable energy resource and the importance of FES, using different channels as sources of information.

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Specific Dimensional Change Behavior of Laminated Beech Veneer Lumber (BauBuche) in Terms of Moisture Absorption and Desorption

Fibers ◽

10.3390/fib8070047 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (7) ◽

pp. 47

Author(s):

Jan T. Benthien ◽

Martin Riegler ◽

Nick Engehausen ◽

Martin Nopens

Keyword(s):

Radial Direction ◽

Building Materials ◽

Moisture Absorption ◽

Beech Wood ◽

Wood Products ◽

Sorption Behavior ◽

Spring Back ◽

Dynamic Vapor Sorption ◽

Dimensional Changes ◽

Precise Knowledge

Replacing greenhouse gas-intensive building materials with wood products from sustainable forestry contributes to the implementation of current climate conventions such as the Paris Agreement. Hardwood products, such as laminated veneer lumber made of beech (e.g., BauBuche), are an alternative to conventional building materials. For the application of wood products in the construction sector, a precise knowledge of the mechanical and physical properties is essential. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the sorption behavior and associated dimensional changes of the product BauBuche. This was done by applying a manual testing procedure (climatic chamber, balance and caliper) as well as a dynamic vapor sorption analyzer equipped with a camera. During initial moistening after production, due to the irreversible spring back (approximately 2 mm at 50 mm; i.e., 4%), Baubuche shows an extremely strong swelling in the radial direction. Once the maximum spring back is reached, Baubuche shows sorption behavior in the radial and tangential direction, which is comparable to that of solid beech wood in the radial direction. Consequently, the dimensional changes caused by moisture changes must be taken into account in the dimensioning of Baubuche components in order to avoid damage to building structures.

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Engineered Wood Products as a Sustainable Construction Material: A Review

10.5772/intechopen.99597 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ranjana Yadav ◽

Jitendra Kumar

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Construction Material ◽

High Strength ◽

Wood Products ◽

Sustainable Construction ◽

Environmental Aspects ◽

Laminated Veneer Lumber ◽

Glued Laminated Timber ◽

Engineered Wood Products ◽

Engineered Wood

Engineered wood products are considered as best building materials due to environmentally friendly. Huge change to the way in which wood has been utilized in primary application of construction in the course of the most recent 25 years are in light of decreased admittance to high strength timber from growth forests, and the turn of events and creation of various new design of manufactured wood products. Engineered wood products are available in different variety of sizes and measurements like laminated veneer lumber, glued laminated timber, finger jointed lumber, oriental strand board etc. It is utilized for rooftop and floor sheathing, solid structure, beams and the hull of boats. This review objectively explores not only the environmental aspects of the use of different engineered wood composites as a building material, but also their economic aspects, to understand their effect on sustainability.

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Experimental Study on the Flexural Performance of Parallel Strand Bamboo Beams

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1155/2014/181627 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Aiping Zhou ◽

Yuling Bian

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Mechanical Performance ◽

Construction Materials ◽

Damage Mechanism ◽

Wood Products ◽

Structural Members ◽

Performance Study ◽

Flexural Performance ◽

Mode Of Failure ◽

Growing Population

Searching for materials to provide proper housing with less emission and low energy becomes an urgent demand with the ever-growing population. Bamboo has gained a reputation as an ecofriendly, highly renewable source of material. Parallel Strand Bamboo (PSB) is a new biocomposite made of bamboo strips which has superiority performances than wood products. It has attracted considerable interests as a sustainable alternative for more traditional building materials. But the mechanical performance study of PSB as construction materials is still inadequate. Also, the structural behavior of PSB is not quite understood as conventional construction materials, which results in the difficulties to predict the performances of PSB structural members. To achieve this purpose, 4-point bending experiments for PSB beams were carried out. The flexural performances, mode of failure in bending, and the damage mechanism of PSB beams were investigated in this paper.

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