Resistance of Smoked Glued Laminated Lumber to Subterranean Termite Attack

Timber from plantation forest mostly contains sapwood, and the heartwood part has a lot of juvenile wood, which has low resistance to attack by subterranean termites (Coptotermes curvignathus). Wood smoke created through pyrolysis contains numerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that could prevent termite attack. Three-layer glued laminated lumber (glulam) was created using either the same wood species (mangium [Acacia mangium], manii [Maesopsis eminii], or sengon [Falcataria moluccana]) for all layers or a combination of mangium as the face and back layers and a core layer of manii or sengon. Glulam samples were exposed to smoke from mangium wood for 15 days, preserved with imidacloprid, or left untreated. All glulams were tested against subterranean termites according to the Indonesian standard. Gas chromatography revealed that smoke from mangium predominantly contained acetic acid, cyclobutanol, and phenolic compounds. Smoked glulam was more resistant to subterranean termite attack than untr...