The objective of this research was to evaluate the corrosion of screws fixed into wood treated with preservative solutions of wood tar creosote. The crude wood tar creosote was obtained through distillation of wood tar at 110 - 255ºC. A fraction of this product was washed with a solution of sodium bicarbonate at 9%, resulting in purified wood tar creosote. Both fractions were enriched with 3% of copper naphtenate, 3% of zinc naphtenate, 3% of cobalt naphtenate, 2% of TBTO, 2% of tributhyl-tin tribromophenate, 2% of pentachlorophenol, or with 0.4% of arsenic trioxide. A total of 16 preservative solutions were prepared, of which 14 were enriched, besides the crude wood tar creosote and the purified wood tar creosote. Stakes made of Eucalyptus grandis sapwood were treated following the full-cell process (Bethell's process). After the stakes treatment, screws of iron covered with zinc were fixed into the wood stakes. The assay was carried out in three locations (Viçosa, Ponte Nova and Leopoldina - in Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais, Brazil). The corrosiveness of solutions of wood tar creosote was compared with the one caused by coal tar creosote. The solutions with purified wood tar creosote were less corrosive than those prepared with crude wood tar creosote, being similar to the coal tar creosote.
Wood tar creosote; coal tar creosote; corrosion test
