Constellation, le dépôt institutionnel de l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

Résumé

High temperature heat-treatment of wood, which is value-added green product, is one of the alternatives to chemical treatment. It has better dimensional stability, thermal insulating properties and biological resistance compared to kiln dried wood. It also has dark brown color which is very important for decorative purposes. Unfortunately, this color changes during weathering. Developing a transparent and non-toxic coating for the protection of heat-treated wood against discoloration without changing its natural appearance is the main objective of this study. For this purpose, waterborne acrylic polyurethane base was chosen because of its durability against weathering and non-toxic nature. Natural antioxidants which are extracted from barks and CeO2 nano particles (alone or together with lignin stabilizer) were used as additives to develop different coatings. The protective characteristics of these coatings were compared with highly pigmented and toxic industrial coating under accelerated weathering conditions. The results showed that acrylic polyurethane coatings protected wood better compared to commercially available coating tested in this study. The chemical modifications during accelerated weathering of coated and heat-treated wood surfaces were monitored by XPS analysis and the morphological changes took place during weathering were studied by fluorescence microscope analysis.