Project description
New coatings help protect wood from Sun damage
Thermal modification significantly increases the durability and stability of wood, resulting in a more environmentally friendly timber species. No wood product currently exists that will not fade over time when exposed to the Sun’s ultraviolet rays and causes colour change. Thermally modified wood must be adequately protected against the Sun to counter the greying effects of surfaces. The EU-funded NewSiest project will treat thermally modified wood with nano stabilisers based on zinc oxide or cerium oxide nanoparticles. These will form a protective envelope on the wooden surface, which will be thermally treated under controlled temperatures. The new coatings will help block ultraviolet radiation from reaching the wood surface, helping it retain its natural appearance.
Objective
Thermal modification is a process which improves the properties of wood, resulting in a material that can be disposed at the end of the product life cycle without presenting an environmental hazard. Thermally modified wood retains as a natural product and the grain, original colour variances and characteristics of wood are still present. However, exposure to daylight causes brightening or graying of heat treated wood surfaces. In ordar to tackle this challenge we are proposing a novel way to improve the UV stability of thermally modified wood using nano based stabilizers. But instead of coating nanoparticles on heat treated wood, wood surfaces will be treated with nanoparticle (ZnO or CeO2) solutions, thereby forming protective envelope on a wooden surface, which will be further heat treated under controlled temperature and time. This technique induces a chemical bonding between the wood and nanomaterial thus protecting chromophoric groups from UV light degradation.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolors
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseeds
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesforestry
Keywords
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia