Dede Hermawan

Resistance of Particleboards Made from Fast-Growing Wood Species to Subterranean Termite Attack.

Laboratory-made particleboards were tested for their resistance to subterranean termite, Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren (Order Isoptera, Family Termitidae) by Indonesian standard SNI 01.7207–2006, during four weeks and at the end of the test their mass loss percentage and feeding rate were determined. Particleboards consisted of: jabon (Anthocephalus cadamba, Family Rubiacea) with a density of 0.41 g/cm3; sungkai (Peronema canescens, Family Verbenaceae) with a density of 0.46 g/cm3; mangium (Acacia mangium, Family Rhamnaceae) with a density of 0.60 g/cm3 separately and the three species mixture at a rate of 1:1:1. Densities of the boards were targetted at 0.60 g/cm3 and 0.80 g/cm3 by using 12% urea formaldehyde as binder with 2% paraffin as additive based on oven dry wood particle weight. The hand-formed mats and hot-pressing at 130 °C and 2.45 MPa for 10 min were applied. The results showed that particleboards density did not affect mass loss and feeding rate, but the particleboards made from higher density wood resulted in higher resistance to subterranean termite attack. The most resistant particleboards were made of magium, followed by sungkai, mixed species, and jabon.

Feeding rate of termites in wood treated with borax, acetylation, polystyrene, and smoke

Mindi (Melia azedarach) wood with density of 0.43 g/cm3 from Indonesia and sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) wood with density of 0.34 g/cm3 from Japan were treated with borax preservative, acetylation, polystyrene, and smoke. Treated and untreated wood samples were tested for resistance against subterranean termite (Coptotermes curvignathus) and dry wood termite (Cryptotermes cynocephalus) in the laboratory according to Indonesian standards. In addition to determining resistance of treated woods to termite attack, this work also evaluated termite feeding rates. The results showed that mindi has better resistance to subterranean and dry wood termite attack than sugi. All treatments effectively increased resistance to subterranean and dry wood termite attacks as shown by treated wood samples having less weight loss, higher resistance class, higher termite mortality, and a lower termite feeding rate compared to untreated wood. Daily termite feeding rate of untreated mindi was 50.3 μg/termite and sugi 95.8 μg/termite, the feeding rate of sugi was higher than mindi probably because sugi has a lower density and contains early wood, which both make termite feeding activity easier. The wood treatments effectively decreased the daily feeding rate of the termites.