Evaluation of Pine Wood Performance Following Multifunctional Compound Treatments

In this study, the usability of artificial antioxidants, nano oxides and generally regarded as safe (GRAS) compounds in the wood preservation industry was investigated. For this purpose, some physical, biological, mechanical properties and surface chemistry analysis of Scotch pine wood impregnated with 14 different compounds selected from these three different groups was performed. The physical changes in the impregnated samples were evaluated based on water absorption rate and water repellency. In addition, combustion behavior and color changes were examined to assess fire and surface optical/color properties, respectively. To investigate the biological properties of the impregnated wood samples, fungal decay resistance test was applied using Coniophera puteana fungus. To reveal the changes in the mechanical properties of wood compression strength parallel to grain test was applied. Limit oxygen index (LOI) test was conducted to investigate the combustion properties of the impregnated wood samples. To interpret the interaction of the impregnated samples with wood, surface chemistry analysis was carried out and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) test was performed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to observe the distribution of impregnated samples in the wood. After all these tests it can be concluded that tested artificial antioxidants, nano oxides and GRAS compounds can be used as impregnation materials. Especially, nano-oxides exhibited good performance in many aspects. Therefore, it is recommended to examine nano-oxides more closely with other experimental variations. As a result, such multifunctional compounds could be promising protection alternatives with environmentally friendly characteristics to highly toxic biocides.