Effect of nano-sized compounds on wood preservation

Abstract

In today's wood protection technology, copper-based chemical substances are widely used. These substances have a limited effect on human health but have a negative effect on aquatic living organisms. For this reason, research on the new generation and less harmful chemicals is concentrated today. In this concept, the use of nano-sized chemical substances in wood preservation is being investigated. In this thesis, the effects of nano-sized oxide-based Magnesium oxide, Zinc oxide, Aluminum oxide, Titanium oxide and nano-clay on the wood material were investigated. Wood samples were prepared from sapwood of Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The impregnation process was carried out at different concentrations of nano-oxides and nano-clay. Then, as a secondary impregnation process, PMMA was used. The effect of nanoparticles on the physical properties of wood such as water absorption, tangential swelling, water repellent efficiency and anti-swelling efficiency was studied. Compared to control, nano-oxides and nano-clay which containing PMMA were had successful results, where water absorption rate decreasing by 25% approximately than in control samples. By using thermo-gravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis, the thermal properties of wood (TGA, DSC) were investigated. The results showed that addition of nanoparticles reduce flammability, as the temperature of deterioration increases of treated samples while the weight loss was lower when compared to control. In this study, also brown-rot (Coniophora puteana) fungi for leached samples were done. Decay results were revealed that treated wood samples generally had lower mass loss compared to control.