Novel alkyd-linseed oil emulsion formulations for wood coatings

Abstract

In this experiment an oil-in-water emulsion, suitable as a coating for wood surface protection, was obtained. The main components of this emulsion were linseed oil and an alkyd, mixed at a ratio of 1:2. The experiments were conducted to find a valid combination of solubilizing agents, capable of giving a stable emulsion. Several surfactants, obtained from different producers, were tested. The main factors considered were the nature of the surfactant and its hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB). Our results confirmed that the most suitable surfactants were ethoxylated non-ionic types with a high HLB value, while surfactants based on the gemini technology showed a poor efficiency due to scarce solubility in water, which led to the separation of phases. Once the optimal emulsion composition was obtained, hydrothermally treated and untreated aspen wood samples were coated to evaluate the degree of coating absorption for two different substrates.