Considerations for Developing Wood Coatings

Wood has been used as a building material for thousands of years due to its availability, low weight to strength ratio and, in many applications, high aesthetic quality. However, as a paintable substrate, it also provides some unique challenges and considerations, as wood is a dynamic, porous (cellular structure) and hygroscopic material. A few considerations include:

  • Moisture content – kiln dried wood absorbs water until it reaches equilibrium with relative humidity. Moisture content can vary from about 6% to 30%.
  • Expansion and contraction – See Table I
  • Age, wood cut geometry and type of wood – (e.g. hardwood or softwood etc.) – determines paint receptivity (moderately aged wood > new wood or very old wood)

Table I – Percent Dimensional Change of Wood as Moisture Content Varies from 5 to 15%

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For a 10 cm thick wood section, a fluctuation in Relative Humidity of about 10% means a change in a tangential longitudinal wood piece of 3.5 mm (or 3,500 microns). Accordingly, these relatively large dimensional changes produce cracks as the wood looses elasticity due to aging. Thus a properly designed wood coating must have the requisite flexibility to accommodate these dimensional changes without cracking. Wood is comprised of about 75% cellulose and hemicellulose and 25% lignin, resins and low molecular weight phenolics. In exterior applications, wood is susceptible to degradation and subsequent erosion due to exposure to UV degradation, oxygen, moisture and biological activity. When exposed to the elements, the lower molecular weight materials will degrade to form water-soluble compounds that wash out whereas the more stable cellulosic molecules remain to form a white-grey color.

 

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Reactive Silanes for Enhancement of Coating Performance

Reactive silanes (EU) can be used in multiple applications to enhance the performance of coatings. They can improve adhesion to inorganic substrates, provide crosslinking, improve pigment dispersion, improve hydrophobicity and scavenge moisture. A silane (EU) that contains at least one carbon silicon bond (CH3 – Si -) is called an organosilane (EU).Reactive silane is the term used to define compounds that have a trialkoxysilyl group and an alkyl group (R) containing a reactive constituent.

Silanes_SM2The trialkoxy silanes that are discussed in this article are those that contain primarily trimethoxy (EU) groups, as these molecules are the most widely used to enhance coating performance in a wide variety of applications, as follows:

  • Adhesion Promoter (EU)– Silanes, when added to paints, can enhance adhesion to inorganic surfaces including metals and glass.
  • Coupling Agent (EU) – Silanes are used for coupling organic polymers to inorganic materials, including pigments and fillers.
  • Crosslinking Agent (EU) – Selective organofunctional alkoxysilanes can react with organic polymers to provide a trialkoxysilyl group into the polymer backbone. In turn, the silane can then react with moisture to crosslink and form a three-dimensional siloxane cross-linked structure.
  • Dispersing Agent (EU) – Used to improve the hydrophobicity of inorganic pigments, flow and the ability to be dispersed in organic polymers and solvents.
  • Moisture Scavenger (EU) – In moisture sensitive formulations, the three alkoxysilane groups can scavenge water by reacting with moisture to form alcohol molecules.

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