Physical properties, thermal and fungal resistance of Scots pine wood treated with nano-clay and several metal-oxides nanoparticles

ABSTRACT

Today’s wood protection technology adopts copper-based chemical substances as the widely utilized material. Besides the adverse effect on human health, it also showed negative impact on organisms. To prevent this, a new method using of nano-sized chemical substances in wood preservation was being investigated. In this work, the effects of nano-clay and nano-sized particles of zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium oxide (TiO₂), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), and magnesium oxide (MgO) impregnation on the wood samples were investigated. Samples from Scots pine wood were impregnated with the nanoparticles. Besides that, samples with second impregnation of 10% polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) were also prepared to investigate the improvement in wood properties. The physical and thermal properties of the samples were tested as well as biodegradation against the brown-rot fungus Coniophora puteana. Impregnation of nanoparticles slightly affect the water absorption properties, but second impregnation with 10% PMMA reduced the water absorption up to 20%. The lowest water absorption and the highest water repellencies after 336 h in water were determined on the samples treated with 10% nano-clay-PMMA and MgO-PMMA treatments. Water repellent efficiency and anti-swelling efficiency were also increased by addition of 10% PMMA with little decrement after longer soaking time. The highest ASE was found on the samples treated with 15% of nano-clay and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO) with PMMA. Results also showed that impregnation of nanoparticles provides good protection against the tested fungi with the highest degradation was only 3.88% for Al₂O₃, compared to control sample with 20.26% weight loss. In conclusion, the applied nanoparticles are suitable substances to increase the durability of pine wood.

KEYWORDS:

• Nano-oxides
• nano-clay
• wood protection
• Coniophora puteana

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).