NANO-BASED COATINGS AND THE INFLUENCE ON THE HYGROSCOPIC PROPERTIES OF WOOD, 2010 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for the Forest Product Industry

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Wood as a natural material can be easily affected by different climatic conditions when it is used as a building material. Water in its liquid and vapour form may lead to deterioration of wood where hygroscopic properties of the wood play a major role in the determination of its durability. Exterior wood coatings provide a barrier against moisture but the combined action of ultraviolet radiation, oxygen and water causes coating degradation. However, nano-based coatings provide new opportunities towards modification of wood attributes. The very small size and high reactivity of nanoparticles integrated into the wood coating may improve the hygroscopic properties of a wooden cladding. The objective of this work is to present moisture resistance of nano-based coated wood by exposing it to transient climatic conditions. The measured material properties were used as input data for the numerical tool WUFI in order to compare the measured properties of nano-based coated and uncoated wood under transient conditions with those input values used in the simulation.