Microstructural characterization of malachite green particles in treated wood

ABSTRACT

A variety of different processes exist which are capable of incorporating malachite green particles in wood to serve as a preservative, but they use a variety of pressure and temperature regimes of copper-carbonate which may alter the structure and location of the copper-containing compounds in wood. The main objective of the study was to investigate how various wood processing methods affect the incorporation of malachite green particles in wood, potentially altering the crystal structure or long-range order of the copper-containing compounds. Three different types of commercially available treated wood, as well as patented processed wood, were examined. Electron microscopy revealed particulate features and chemicals in the wood that chemically matched malachite. X-ray diffraction suggests an absence of a crystalline malachite structure upon infiltration in the wood during processing. This suggests that, based on the fabrication process, the pressure and temperatures used to infiltrate wood with copper -containing compounds may alter the formation pathways of malachite (a copper carbonate) in such a manner as to modulate its crystal structure or long-range order.

KEYWORDS:

• Microstructure
• electron microscopy
• copper-containing compounds
• characterization

Disclosure statement

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