Nanocharacterization techniques for investigating the durability of wood coatings

Nanocharacterization techniques such as nanoindentation and atomic force microscopy were used to investigate the exterior durability of waterborne coatings improved with inorganic nanosized UV-absorbers. Nanocomposite coatings for exterior uses of wood were formulated with different type of nanoparticles and their performance was evaluated trough artificial aging. Nanoindentation in continuous stiffness mode was used to demonstrate the changes of hardness and Young’s modulus of the coatings after accelerated weathering. The degradation mechanism of the surface coatings was investigated with atomic force microscopy that has provided valuable information on the morphological and microstructural changes of the surface coatings with the artificial aging. Additionally, the glass transition temperature and optical appearance changes were reported. The results obtained have shown that the nanoindentation technique in conjunction with atomic force microscopy can be satisfactorily used for durability investigation and service life prediction of nanocomposite coatings for wood.

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► Nanocharacterization of waterborne exterior nanocomposites coatings.
► Impact of ZnO, TiO2 and SiO2 nanoparticles addition on artificial aging behavior.
► Atomic force microscopy detects the early stages of coating surface degradation.
► Nanoindentation reveal changes in hardness and Young’s modulus after weathering.
► Predispersed ZnO nanoparticles improve the durability of acrylic stain coating.