Evaluation of Axial Impregnation as an Alternative to Classical Wood Vacuum Pressure Impregnation Method

The evolution of laws on the use of biocide products has led to important changes in the field of wood preservation leading to an increasing interest for non “biocidal treatments” like thermal or chemical modifications. While thermal modifications become more and more common on industrial scale, development of chemical modifications progresses slowly. One reason for the challenges encountered is probably the difficulty to use actual vacuum pressure plant to impregnate wood with solutions of reactive chemicals aimed to react with or within the wood. In this context, the presented research focuses on a new alternative called axial impregnation, derived from Boucherie process, for impregnation of treatable non durable hardwood species. This process consists of low-pressure impregnation of green wood logs through its lower extremity with treatment solution transiting via natural pathways of vessels. In order to evaluate the feasibility of the method, logs of different hardwood species were impregnated with a copper based preservative solution and the distribution of copper within the wood was determined. Results indicated that treatable wood species like beech, hornbeam and birch can be easily and homogeneously treated using axial impregnation method, while ash known for its weak impregnability remained untreated.