Comparative study on weathering resistance of transparent wood infiltrated with three different polymers

ABSTRACT

Transparent wood (TW) is an emerging composite material made of wood and infiltrated polymer that holds great promise for use in outdoor building components and photovoltaic devices. To assess the weathering resistance of TW, we conducted artificial weathering tests on three types of TW infiltrated with different polymers: epoxy (ETW), methyl methacrylate (MTW), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PTW). After 360 h of artificial weathering, ETW and PTW exhibited less surface roughness, color difference, and volumetric swelling compared to MTW. The equilibrium contact angle rankings were: ETW (42°) > MTW (31°) > PTW (28°). The transmittances of PTW and MTW remained above 60% after weathering, and that of ETW dropped to 40%. Chemical analysis indicated that PTW was least affected by UV-induced degradation, followed by ETW, while MTW was the most severely impacted. Our comprehensive assessment revealed that the weathering resistance of TW can vary depending on the polymer type, with ETW and PTW demonstrating superior resistance compared to MTW. These findings highlight the potential of TW as a durable and sustainable material for outdoor applications and provide valuable data for optimizing the development and utilization of TW.

KEYWORDS:

• Transparent wood
• infiltrated polymer
• weathering resistance
• comprehensive assessment

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Advanced analysis and testing center of Nanjing Forestry University for assistance in operating the chemical characterizations. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission. Author Contributions: Kaiwen Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-original draft. Xianfu Xiao: Validation, Investigation. Baoming Deng: Methodology. Hui Peng: Supervision, Writing-review & editing. Tianyi Zhan: Supervision, Writing-review & editing. Jianxiong Lyu: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing-review & editing.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 31971591, 32171705].