ORIGINAL Effect of heat treatment intensity on some conferred properties of different European softwood and hardwood species Mounir Chaouch • Ste ´phane Dumarc ¸ay • Ane ´lie Pe ´trissans • Mathieu Pe ´trissans • Philippe Ge ´rardin Received: 12 April 2012 / Published online: 26 February 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Abstract Effect of heat treatment intensity on some conferred properties like elemental composition, durability, anti-swelling efficiency (ASE) and equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of different European softwood and hardwood species subjected to mild pyrolysis at 230 °C under nitrogen for different durations has been investigated. Independently of the wood species studied, elemental composition is strongly correlated with the mass losses due to thermal degradations which are directly connected to treatment intensity (duration). In all cases, an important increase in the carbon content associated with a decrease in the oxygen content was observed. Heat-treated specimens were exposed to several brown rot fungi, and the weight losses due to fungal degradation were determined after 16 weeks, while effect of wood extractives before and after thermal treatment was investigated on mycelium growth. ASE and EMC were also evaluated. Results indicated important correlations between treatment intensity and all of the wood conferred properties like its elemental composition, durability, ASE or EMC. These results clearly indicated that chemical modifications of wood cell wall polymers are directly responsible for wood decay durability improvement, but also for its improved dimensional stability as well as its reduced capability for water adsorption. All these modifications of wood properties appeared simultaneously and progressively with the increase in treatment intensity depending on treatment duration. At the same time, effect of extractives generated during thermal treatment on Poria placenta growth indicated that these latter ones have no beneficial effect on wood durability. M. Chaouch  S. Dumarc ¸ay  A. Pe ´trissans  M. Pe ´trissans  P. Ge ´rardin (&) Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Mate ´riau Bois, EA 4370, Faculte ´ des Sciences et Technologies, Universite ´ de Lorraine, BP 70239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-le `s-Nancy, France e-mail: philippe.gerardin@lermab.uhp-nancy.fr 123 Wood Sci Technol (2013) 47:663–673 DOI 10.1007/s00226-013-0533-z