Use of wax emulsions for improvement of wood durability and sorption properties

Boštjan Lesar (1) , Miha Humar (1)

1 Biotechnical Faculty, Department for Wood Science and Technology

Waxes are used for treatment of wood surfaces for several decades predominately as surface treatments because they weakly penetrate into the wood. In order to overcome this issue, water emulsions were applied in the present experiment. Five water emulsions of various concentrations were used, namely montan wax, polyethylene, ethylene copolymer and oxidized polyethylene wax. Performance of wax treated beech () and Norway spruce () against white rot, brown rot and blue stain fungi was tested. In parallel, sorption properties of wax treated wood were determined. The treated specimens were more resistant to wood decay fungi. Polyethylene and oxidized polyethylene wax were found to be particularly efficient. Although this treatment does not improve resistance to blue stain fungi, it reduces the sorption of water.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Boštjan Lesar, Miha Humar. Use of wax emulsions for improvement of wood durability and sorption properties. European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, 2010, pp.231-238. ⟨10.1007/s00107-010-0425-y⟩. ⟨hal-00594485⟩