Investigation on the restoration properties of wood oil microcapsules in wood coatings

Wood coatings endure wear and tear and may experience reduced service life. Therefore, the self-healing feature is crucial for practical application in wood protection. The study involved preparing a self-healing microcapsule through in-situ polymerization. Wood oil was utilized as the core material and urea-formaldehyde resin (UF) as the wall structure, forming a “core-shell” structure. The average particle size of the microcapsules is approximately 2.8 μm. Wood oil Microcapsules of varying content are added to water-based coatings and applied to form a self-healing wood coating. When external forces damaged the wood coating, the microcapsules ruptured and released the inner core to repair the coating. The study results indicated that adding microcapsules at a 6 % level significantly increased the coating's repair rate to over 30 %, enhancing its mechanical properties. This microcapsule type in wood oil can protect wood coatings and guide future wood coating repair methods.