TRU-CORE Protection System for Wood

摘要

Wood is the most widely used building material in the United States. It has many environmentally positive characteristics including low embodied energy, low carbon impact and sustainability. One of its few shortcomings is its relative lack of durability compared to other building materials due to its susceptibility to decay and insect attack. Chemical treatments have been used for over 100 years to improve wood's resistance to these organisms and extend its service life, but delivering these preservatives into the wood is still largely based on nineteenth century technologies. The TRU-CORE Protection System is a novel, chemically-based process for rapidly delivering globally accepted wood preservatives and insecticides deep into the core of wood substrates without requiring high pressure or vacuum treating equipment or volatile organic solvents such as mineral spirits. Unlike conventional treating methods, the TRU-CORE process uses a minimal amount of water to carry the preservatives, thus eliminating the need for re-drying after treatment, which is costly and consumes energy. The TRU-CORE treatment is applied to the surface of the wood by dip or in-line spray systems. It can also be used to facilitate pressure treatment of wood. Full penetrationof the preservatives is typically achieved after a 12-24 hour activation period, after which the wood can be put in service or undergo further processing steps such as painting. The TRU-CORE process is in commercial use in facilities in the United States, Australia and New Zealand where it has largely replaced an LOSP vacuum treatment which utilized large amounts of VOC-emitting petroleum-based solvents.