Development of abrasion resistance SiO2 nanocomposite coating for teak wood

The main objective of this work was to study the formation of abrasion resistance nanocomposite coating for teak wood that was fabricated from silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SNPs) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) via a sol-gel process. SNPs were used to enhance the abrasion resistance property, while MTMS acted as a matrix and rendered the flexibility of the nanocomposite film. The nanocomposite compositions (SNPs:MTMS) were varied systematically as per the following: 0:100, 10:90, 20:80, 30:70, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 90:10, and 100:0 in order to find the most suitable composition. The nanocomposite coating penetrated into 1-2 rows of surface voids and lumina, and then formed transparent film on wood surface. It was found that the nanocomposite coating with the ratio of 40:60 and 50:50 (SNPs:MTMS) showed a significantly lower weight loss at 41.3 and 38.9 mg when compared to uncoated wood and the other ratio of nanocomposite coated woods after being subjected to 1000 cycles of abrasion. This result corresponded to the appearance of wood as the ratio of 40:60 and 50:50 after abrasion test, which hardly observed abrasion rings on the surface. The adhesion between the nanocomposite coating and the wood surface originating from both physical and chemical interactions resulted in superior protection of wood materials from surface abrasion.