Effect of ACQ-D Treatment on the Surface Free Energy of Chinese Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata)

In this study, the contact angles of three different reference liquids (including distilled water, diiodomethane, and formamide) and PF resin on the surfaces of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) samples untreated or treated with different concentrations of ACQ-D (ammoniacal copper quat Type D) solutions were measured. Then, the surface free energy was calculated by two approaches: acid-base approach and geometric mean approach. ACQ-D treatment caused higher contact angles and lower surface free energies at a retention level corresponding to the commodity treated wood products. When wood was treated with much higher concentrations of ACQ-D, the total surface free energy of wood would be higher than the untreated control. Acid-base/polar components related with the hydrogen bonding state in wood were considered to be responsible for the observed changes according to the applied approaches. The hydrophobic properties and also higher contact angles of PF resin drop on wood surfaces after ACQ-D treatment at a reasonable retention level confirms the changes on surface free energy.