New Methods of Reliably Demonstrating Species Durability in Commercially Relevant Time Frames

This report outlines the overarching aims, methodology and results from the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation (NIFPI) project titled: 'New methods of reliably demonstrating species durability in commercially relevant time frames' (NT047/NIF108-1819).1 This national research project was co-funded by the Australian and Tasmanian Governments, with cash and in-kind contributions from various timber industry and research collaborators. The project was led by Britton Timbers, with the University of Tasmania as the principal researcher.

The primary focus of this project was to identify accelerated methods of durability analysis for preservative treated or modified timber from Eucalyptus species that are of interest to the Australian timber industry. Durability tests typically investigate the efficacy of a candidate treatment (e.g. a new preservative chemical system) against fungal decay, insect and/or marine borer attack. The most reliable durability tests are field trials that closely mimic real life decay scenarios, but these can take a very long time (sometimes several decades or more) to produce meaningful results. The original aim of this NIFPI project was to investigate and reduce the durability testing period required to produce useful results, rather than develop or investigate a new preservative treatment. The aim was to build on certified, well-understood accelerated testing approaches to increase their applicability in the Australian timber industry context.

However, this project relied on obtaining treated materials from other co-operators that could be used as the media for assessing accelerated test methods. Delays in the start date of the affiliated project and inherent difficulties with treating refractory (hard to treat), low durability Eucalyptus species made it difficult to obtain suitable test material and this prompted the incorporation of several other foci for the research.