Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

A new innovative stabilization method for the

protection of natural wood
Pascal Hayoz , Wolfgang Peter, Daniel Rogez
Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc., Schwarzwaldallee 215, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland

Abstract
The UV-light exposure of natural wood leads initially to a fast color change, and in the further stages to large chemical modifications
and mechanical breakdown of the wood surface layer. Even in diffuse light exposure, prevailing in indoor conditions, the discoloration of
wood is a serious esthetical drawback, for example, for furniture and parquetry.
Progress has been made with the development of new stabilizers, which offer a significant benefit compared to the currently used
benzotriazole UV-absorbers. Using these new stabilizers the wood photo-protection against discoloration and the durability of clear and
transparent pigmented coating systems can be significantly improved.
2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords: Stabilizer; Wood; UV; Protection

1. Introduction

2. Composition and degradation of natural wood

Wood is widely used as a natural raw material in construction, in the furniture industry and for parquetry end uses. Its
physical properties and its warm appearance distinguish it
in many areas from competitive materials such as concrete,
metals and plastics. Today especially pale wood species like
fir, pine, birch, beech and maple are in trend.
To protect these materials from adverse factors such as
visible light, UV-light, oxygen, heat, humidity and water, biological attack and air pollutants, they are usually
coated with various protective and decorative finishes such
as paints, transparent stains and penetrating finishes or
film forming clear varnishes (Fig. 1). Transparent systems which allow the natural features of the wood (e.g.
color and texture) to remain visible, are attracting interest and the demand for them has been increasing. On
the one side the protective coating has to be stabilized
itself from yellowing, cracking, blistering, delamination
and loss of gloss, and on the other side the discoloration
and chemical decomposition of the wood has to be diminished to keep its natural appearance and value. Even
in indoor applications under diffuse light conditions wood
will yellow and darken with time, if it is not protected
appropriately.

Natural wood is a quite complex material compared to

synthetic plastics or metals. Depending on the wood species
its dry mass is composed mainly by three natural polymeric
structures, which are cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses
such as glucomannan, glucuronoxylan and other polysaccharides. The rest (extractives) consists of extractable products like terpenes, waxes, tannins, mineral salts etc., which
are usually present in the range 25% (Table 1) [1].
Cellulose and the hemicelluloses build up the wood cells,
whereas lignin acts mainly as binder between the wood cells.
The lignin content varies between 27 and 37% for softwoods
(e.g. fir, pine, spruce, etc.) and between 16 and 29% for
hardwoods (e.g. birch, beech, maple, etc.).
In contrast to cellulose and the hemicelluloses, which do
not absorb daylight, lignin contains many chromophores,
which absorb especially in the UV region, and is therefore
easily decomposed by photo-oxidative processes. Chemically lignin is a random crosslinked product with an
average molecular mass of around 20,000 containing different C9 phenylpropane units originating from coniferyl,
sinapinyl and p-coumaryl alcohols. Lignin is a very complex natural polymer and its composition depends on the
different wood species. Only average chemical structures
can be drawn (Fig. 2). On the other hand, it is commonly accepted that the following chemical units play an
important role in the photo-oxidative de-polymerization
of lignin, which leads to the formation of brownish

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pascal.hayoz@cilasc.com (P. Hayoz).

0300-9440/$ see front matter 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/S0300-9440(03)00102-4

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P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

Fig. 1. Factors influencing wood and coating.

quinoide structures causing the darkening of irradiated

wood (Fig. 3) [2]. In outdoor weathering the degraded
and de-polymerized lignin is washed out by rain from the
unprotected outer wood surfaces. The remaining cellulose
fibers will then appear as a woolly surface, which will
turn grayish with time due to colonization by blue stain
fungi.

3. State of the art stabilization

To avoid such photo-oxidative degradation, wood has to
be protected. This is usually done by the application of one
or more coating layers. Many types of coatings are used
including alkyd varnishes, 2P-PUR systems and acrylic
coatings, which are either available as solvent-borne and/or

Table 1
Chemical composition of different wood species (% of dry wood weight)
Species

Common name

Exta (%)

Ligb (%)

Celc (%)

Glmd (%)

Glxe (%)

O.p.f (%)

Softwoods
Abies balsamea
Pseudotsuga menz.
Tsuga canadensis
Juniperus communis
Pinus radiata
Pinus sylvestris
Picea abies
Picea glauca
Larix sibirica

Balsam fir
Douglas fir
Eastern hemlock
Common juniper
Monterey pine
Scots pine
Norway spruce
White spruce
Siberian larch

2.7
5.3
3.4
3.2
1.8
3.5
1.7
2.1
1.8

29.1
29.3
30.5
32.1
27.2
27.7
27.4
27.5
26.8

38.8
38.8
37.7
33.0
37.4
40.0
41.7
39.5
41.4

17.4
17.5
18.5
16.4
20.4
16.0
16.3
17.2
14.1

8.4
5.4
6.5
10.7
8.5
8.9
8.6
10.4
6.8

2.7
3.4
2.9
3.2
4.3
3.6
3.4
3.0
8.7

Hardwoods
Acer rubrum
Acer saccharum
Fagus sylvatica
Betula verrucosa
Betula papyriferea
Alnus incana
Eucalyptus camaldul.
Eucalyptus globules
Gmelina arborea
Acacia mollissima
Ochroma lagopus

Red maple
Sugar maple
Common beech
Silver birch
Paper birch
Gray alder
River red gum
Blue gum
Yemane
Black wattle
Balsa

3.2
2.5
1.2
3.2
2.6
4.6
2.8
1.3
4.6
1.8
2.0

25.4
25.2
24.8
22.0
21.4
24.8
31.3
21.9
26.1
20.8
21.5

42.0
40.7
39.4
41.0
39.4
38.3
45.0
51.3
47.3
42.9
47.7

3.1
3.7
1.3
2.3
1.4
2.8
3.1
1.4
3.2
2.6
3.0

22.1
23.6
27.8
27.5
29.7
25.8
14.1
19.9
15.4
28.2
21.7

3.7
3.5
4.2
2.6
3.4
2.3
2.0
3.9
2.5
2.8
2.9

Extractives (extraction with CH2 Cl2 , followed by C2 H5 OH).

Lignin.
c Cellulose.
d Glucomannan.
e Glucuronoxylan.
f Other polysaccharides.
b

P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

299

OH
O

OH
O

OH

OH

OH
O
O

OH
OH

OH
O

O
O

HO

OH

HO

HO

OH

OH
O

HO

OH

O
O

HO
O

HO

O
O

HO

OH

OH

OH

O
OH

OH

Fig. 2. Spruce lignin fragment.

water-borne compositions, whereas acrylate binders are

mainly used in UV-curable systems. It has been shown that
the UV-fraction of the solar radiation is causing most of
the chemical modification and mechanical breakdown in
the wood surface layer, thus explaining the origin of adhe-

h
Lignin

OH
HO
H

OH
HO

. .
R , RO ,

R , RO , ROO

lignin

sion failures of most clear or transparent coatings [3]. In

this sense UV-light has to be screened before it reaches the
wood surface. This has lead to the development of different
UV-absorbers, mainly of the benzophenone and benzotriazole type, which are incorporated in the coating layers.

.
ROO

OH

lignin

lignin
O

O -O-4 cleavage

+
O
lignin

O
lignin

lignin

oxidation by

RO .
ROO.

ketyl radical
O

lignin

lignin
O

O
O

and other chromophores

Schmidt and Heitner, J. Wood Chem., Technol., 15, 223-245 (1995)

Fig. 3. Photo-oxidation of lignin.

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P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

Fig. 4. State of the art UV-absorbers and HALS.

formance stabilizers and a two-component protection system have been developed.

4. Development of a new UV-absorber for wood

protection
In addition to UV-light in the range 300350 nm, also
UV-light in the region from 350 to 400 nm and even visible
light has an effect on the discoloration of wood. Depending on the wood species, discoloration can be observed after
daylight irradiation with wavelengths up to 500 nm [3]. It
is therefore necessary to develop new UV-screeners, which
have a more pronounced red-shift in their absorption spectra
compared to the currently used benzophenones (e.g. UVA-1)
and benzotriazoles (e.g. UVA-2) which have mainly absorptions with max in the region of 325345 nm.
Ideally such new UV-absorbers would absorb all UV-light
up to 400 nm, but without any absorption tailing into the visible to avoid a yellow coloration of the wood substrates to
be protected. In addition they have to be very photo-stable
for efficient long-term protection. High compatibility of the
UV-absorber in the different coating substrates is very important, in order to prevent loss of performance by washing
out or evaporation of the UV-absorbers. From an application
point of view, liquid UV-absorbers are preferred.
Based on this product profile, many new UV-absorbers
were designed, synthesized and tested. Screening results revealed derivatives of the tris-resorcinol-1,3,5-triazine (TRT)

Fig. 5. Effect of UVA-2 and HALS-1 on color change of pine.

For the color stabilization of indoor clearcoats, typically

organic UV-absorbers are used in concentrations of 13%
(calculated on binder), depending on the coating thickness.
For exterior applications, clear varnishes and transparent
pigmented stains require 15% UV-absorber (calculated on
resin solids) or 13% UV-absorber/HALS (hindered amine
light stabilizer) blends to obtain the desired protection, e.g.
UVA-1, UVA-2, HALS-1 and HALS-2 (Fig. 4). Some performance data of such state of the art light stabilizers are
given in Fig. 5. To meet the increasingly higher quality requirements regarding the protection of the wood surface and
the retention of the initial natural wood color, new high per-

C8H17i
O
O
O

OH N

C8H17i

OH

OH

C8H17i
O
O

bis

C8H17i

HO

OH

OH N

N
N
HO

O
O

C8H17i
O

C8H17i
O
O
O

tris
Fig. 6. UVA-3: a mixture containing new TRT-derivatives.

OH N

N
N
HO

tetra

C8H17i
O
O
O
O

C8H17i
C8H17i
O

P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

301

Concentration: 10mg / L ethylacetate

0.9
0.8
0.7
Bis

0.5

Tris

OD

0.6

Tetra

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
250

300

350

400

450

500

nm

Fig. 7. Spectra of bis-, tris- and tetra-substituted TRT.

class as the most promising candidates. A mixture of similar products was finally chosen (new UVA-3) containing the
following products (Fig. 6).
Each of the three UV-absorber parts has its own UVspectrum (Fig. 7), whereas the bis- and tris-para-substituted
tris-resorcinol-triazines have a red-shifted spectrum with
a max around 360 nm and the tetra-substituted compound with a max at about 350 nm (depending on the
solvent). The tetra-substituted compound is in addition

to its UV-absorbance responsible for the high solubility of this mixture. In comparison with the state of the
art UV-absorbers UVA-1 and UVA-2, the red-shift of the
absorbance of the new UVA-3 is very pronounced. An
additional benefit is the much higher absorption per gram
compared to the state of the art UV-absorbers (Fig. 8). The
mixture of these three TRT-derivatives resulted in a viscous
oil, which is soluble in almost any solvent from non-polar
hexane to polar dimethylformamide, but not in water. Very

Concentration: 20mg / L toluene

absorbance

1.2

UVA 1

0.8

UVA 2

UVA 3

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
290

310

330

350

370

wavelength (nm)

Fig. 8. Comparison of different UVA absorption spectra.

390

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P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

Experiment done in an alkyd long oil coating

remaining UV absorber (%)

100

UVA 3

80

UVA 3 /UVA 2
2:1
UVA 3 /UVA 2
1:1
UVA 2

60

40

20

UVA 1

0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

UVA-340 exposure time (h)

Fig. 9. Photo-permanence of different UVAs.

little organic solvent (1020 wt.%) was finally necessary to

create a liquid and easy to handle UV-absorber composition
with a viscosity of about 2 Pa s.

5. Application data and performance tests for UVA-3

A photo-permanence study was made in a solvent-borne
long oil alkyd coating under dry conditions with UV-340 nm

exposure (fluorescent light tubes) for up to 2000 h. This

revealed a very high photostability compared to benzophenone and benzotriazole UV-absorbers. As well
blends of UVA-3 with UVA-2 in a 2:1 and 1:1 ratio showed better photostability than UVA-1 or UVA-2
alone (Fig. 9). The energy-dissipation mechanism, which
leads to this high photostability seems to be a cyclic excited state intramolecular proton-transfer (ESIPT) mechanism in analogy to that of other hydroxy-phenyl-triazines

Fig. 10. UVA de-activation mechanism for HPTs.

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303

Different amounts UV absorber on solid content; 3 coats, DFT: ~80 m

4 % UVA 1
3 % UVA 1
2 % UVA 1
1 % UVA 1
4 % UVA 2
3 % UVA 2
2 % UVA 2
1 % UVA 2
4 % UVA 3
2 % UVA 3
1.5 % UVA 3
1 % UVA 3
0.5 % UVA 3
without stabilizer
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

delta Gloss 60 after 2800 h QUVA for wood

Fig. 11. Accelerated weathering of a long oil alkyd system on fir.

E was measured for 2% UV-absorber in a long oil alkyd

system on fir with the same weathering spray cycle described
above, until first cracks appeared. UVA-3 gave a somewhat
longer protection against cracking than the state of the art
UV-absorbers and as well a better protection against discoloration (Fig. 12). For indoor application simulation, UVA-1,
UVA-2 and UVA-3 were applied in concentrations of 1 and
2% in a 2P-PUR system on fir (three coats, total DFT ca.
100 m) and exposed over 3000 h to UV-340 nm. Whereas
the E value of the unstabilized sample rose very rapidly,

(HPTs), which have been studied extensively (Fig. 10)

[46].
In an accelerated weathering experiment, different concentrations from 0.5 up to 4% of UV-absorbers were applied in a long oil alkyd system in three coats on fir (dry
film thickness (DFT) ca. 80 m) and exposed 2800 h to a
cycle of 5 h UV-340 nm light exposure at 58 C and 1 h of
rain at 22 C. Delta gloss at 60 had been measured and
showed remarkable gloss retention for UVA-3, even with
very low concentrations (Fig. 11). In another experiment,

2 % UV absorber on solid content; 3 coats, DFT:m

~80
35

*
**

30

E*

25

unstabilized
UVA 1

20

UVA 2
15

UVA 3

10
5

*cracking

0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

QUV wood exposure (h)

Fig. 12. Accelerated weathering of long oil alkyd system on fir wood.

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P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

Fig. 13. UVA exposure of 2P-PUR system on fir.

the E increase of the stabilized samples was retarded in

the order UVA-3 > UVA-2 > UVA-1 (Fig. 13). A similar picture was obtained during UV-340 nm exposure of
a long oil alkyd system on fir (four coats, total DFT ca.
120 m) with a UV-absorber concentration of 2%. After

an exposure of over 4000 h, UVA-3 showed an even more

pronounced color retention than the UVA-1 and UVA-2 in
the previous experiment (Fig. 14). It can be stated, that
UVA-3 is a clear improvement to the state of the art in these
applications.
The question then came up, if this new UV-absorber
had an influence on the curing speed and pendulum hardness of UV-curing coatings systems. In a first experiment,
2% of UVA-2 and UVA-3 were applied with a mixture
of 3% of hydroxyketone and acyl-phosphine-oxide photoinitiator in an epoxy acrylate and cured with a mercury
lamp. In both cases, the cure speed was only slightly affected compared to an unstabilized sample. Also the pendulum hardness was in every case comparable (Fig. 15).
In a 600 h UV-340 nm exposure experiment of UV-cured
epoxy-acrylate and polyurethane-acrylate systems containing 3% of a hydroxyketone/acyl-phosphine-oxide mixture
as photoinitiator and 2% of the UV-absorbers UVA-2 and
UVA-3, a somewhat better performance (E ) was found
with the UVA-3 stabilized samples, so it was shown, that the

Fig. 14. UVA exposure of long oil alkyd system on fir.

200

15

150

10

100

50

cure speed

pendulum hardness (s)

cure speed (m/min)

3% Hydroxyketone PI; 2xHg 80W/cm, 5m/min, 50 m

20

pendulum hardness
0

0
unstabilized

2% UVA 2

2% UVA 3

Fig. 15. UV absorber influence on through cure and cure speed in an epoxy acrylate.

P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

305

3% Hydroxyketone PI; 2xHg 80W/cm, 5m/min, 50 m

30
EP-AC
25
E* variation

PU-AC
20
15
10
5
0
unstabilized

2% UVA 2

2% UVA 3

Fig. 16. UV absorber influence on color stabilization of fir wood after 600 h UVA exposure.

new UV-absorber had no negative influence on UV-cured

systems (Fig. 16).
Overall these application data show an important improvement of the wood protection against discoloration compared
to the state of the art. As it was mentioned earlier, complete
screening of UV-light up to 400 nm would give potentially
even better results against the discoloration of irradiated
wood. Because of the more or less gaussian curve shape of all
UV-absorption bands, such a full screening of the UV-light
would be only possible, if at the same time a considerable
amount of visible light would be absorbed, leading to strong
yellow coloration of the protected wood. In this sense the
development of a new stabilizer working by a different protection mechanism than light absorption is required.

6. Development of a new pre-treatment for wood

protection
As it was shown above, lignin leads to colored decomposition products due to a photo-oxidative radical mechanism, when irradiated with light. Since not all wavelengths
of the daylight electromagnetic spectrum can be screened
out as discussed, an attempt was made to control the remaining radicals by bringing different HALS radical scavengers into very close contact with lignin in the outer wood
surface. The radicals should then be converted into more or
less harmless and colorless molecules by these radical scavengers (Fig. 17).
Different HALS in the amino form or their nitroxyl-amino
form were screened by applying them as a 2% solution in
water or ethanol directly onto fir wood. After this procedure,
the panels were coated with three layers of a clear varnish
containing 2% of a commercial benzotriazole UV-screener
(based on solid content) and the panels were then exposed under dry conditions to UV-340 nm light for 500 h
to see if there was a stabilization effect. Indeed this HALS

UV
Absorbers

UV
light
Lignin

Harmless
Heat

Radical
Scavengers

Excited
Molecules

Free
Radicals

O2

Yellow
Products

Harmless
Colorless
Products

Fig. 17. Inhibiting the yellowing of wood (lignin).

pre-treatment showed in one case a very good color retention, measured by the b value (Fig. 18). The compound
HALS-3 in question was the nitroxyl form of the simple
4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine (Fig. 18).
It may be postulated that the observed color retention is the result of a radical scavenging mechanism according to the modified Denisov cycle [7,8], where a
lignin-radical combines with HALS-3 to give the corresponding NOR-product. This NOR-product will react with
a peroxy-radical to free again HALS-3 and at the same
time produce a more or less harmless ketone and alcohol
functional species (Fig. 19). The exact mechanism is not
known up to date.

7. Application data and performance tests for HALS-3

From the screening experiments it became obvious, that
the solvent had a significant importance for the performance of the different tested HALS. HALS-3 was applied in different solvents as a 2% solution on fir wood,
and the panel coated with three coats of a UV-absorber
(based on solid content). Water and interestingly a

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P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

no

10

12

pr
et
r
LS eat
m
H 3 in en
A
LS et t
3 han
in
o
w l
at
er

2 % HALS;3 layer top coat with 2 % bzt-UV-absorber (on solid content) on fir;
500 hoursUVA-340

6
4
2
0
OH

N
O

HALS-3

Fig. 18. Screening of HALS derivatives.

polyethyleneglycol-derivative gave the best performance

(measured by b value), and the least polar solvent butylacetate gave the worst performance after UV-340 nm exposure. It seemed to be very important that the polar HALS-3
could be easily transported into deeper layers of the polar
wood surface (Fig. 20). The same trend was seen during the
screening experiment, where the less polar HALS showed
a lower performance.
The question was then, which concentration would be
necessary for the best protection with HALS-3. A concentration ladder experiment was made taking 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
and 5% of HALS-3 in water as primer and a three layer

top-coat containing 2% of a commercial UV-absorber. After 500 h UVA-340 exposure, the measurement of b value
and E value showed that the concentration of 12% of
HALS-3 was ideal and that higher concentrations gave no
significant improvement of color retention, but the protection effect against the unstabilized sample was very clear.
In a similar experiment it was tested whether if the application of one or more layers of primer containing HALS-3
was important. The result was that already one layer gave
very good protection against discoloration compared to the
unstabilized sample (Fig. 21). All these experiments were
so far performed on fir wood, and it was interesting to
see, whether this pre-treatment with HALS-3 was working
for other wood species too. Different wood samples were
pre-treated with a 2% water solution of HALS-3 and then
coated with three layers of a top-coat containing 2% of a
commercial UV-absorber. The samples were exposed during 1500 h to UV-340 nm and the b value and E value
were measured. As a general result it was found that on pale
wood species like ash or pine, the protection against discoloration was more pronounced than for the darker species
such as nut and cherry wood (Fig. 22).

8. The new two-component system for wood

protection

Fig. 19. Postulated mechanism (modified Denisov cycle) for radial scavenging with HALS-3.

To reach maximum protection against wood discoloration and decomposition, the pre-treatment with a primer
containing HALS-3 and a top-coat containing the new
UVA-3 were combined and tested (Fig. 23). UVA-1, UVA-2

P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

307

3 layer top coat with 2 % bzt-UV-absorber (on solid content)

10
no pretreatment
8
water

Delta b*

6
4

ethanol

butylacetate

0
100

300

diethylenglycolmonoethylether

500

-2
UVA-340 exposure time (h)

Fig. 20. Solvent dependent performance of HALS 3.

16

12

14

10

12
Delta b* (500 h)

14

8
6
4
2

10
8
6
4
2

0
-2

-4

-2
0 layer

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

1 layer

2 layers

3 layers

5%

HALS-3concentration in water
Delta b*

Delta E*

Fig. 21. Concentration dependent performance of HALS-3.

2 % HALS-3;3 layer top coat with 2 % bzt-UV-absorber(on solid content)

1500 hoursUVA-340 exposure
25
20

Delta b* no HALS-3

15

Delta b* with HALS-3

10

DE* no HALS-3

5
DE* with HALS-3

cherry

nut

pine

oregon pine

beech

maple

ash

0
oak

Delta b*/E*

Delta b*-/E* (500 h)

3 layer top coat with 2 % bzt-UV-absorber(on solid content)

500 hours UVA-340 lamps

Fig. 22. Application of HALS-3 on different wood species.

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P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

Fig. 23. Two-component protection against wood discoloration.

and UVA-3 were applied on a fir wood panel, with a

2% concentration in a long oil alkyd top-coat without
pre-treatment, and UVA-1 and UVA-3 in 2% concentration after HALS-3 pre-treatment. During the exposure with
UV-340 nm the yellowness-index was measured. After over
2000 h of exposure time it was found that the sample protected by the combination of UVA-3 and HALS-3 showed
almost no discoloration at all, whereas the samples without
pre-treatment showed significant yellowing (Fig. 24). In a
similar experiment with a solvent-borne 2P-PUR top-coat,
the same trend was observed after 1200 h exposure with

UV-340 nm confirming the almost total protection of wood

against discoloration with the new two-component system HALS-3/UVA-3 (Fig. 25). Finally, the four different
wood species ash, maple, cherry and nut were pre-treated
with a 1% primer solution containing HALS-3, and then
coated with two layers of a water-borne acrylate containing each 0.25 and 0.5% of UVA-3, respectively. E
values were measured after 200 h Q-UVA 340 exposure.
Again the pale wood species ash and maple showed a distinct inhibition of yellowing, due to the new stabilizers
(Fig. 26).

long oil alkyd top coat upon UVA 340 light exposure
UVA in topcoat/ HALS-3 in primer

110
Yellowness index

unstabilized
2% UVA-1

90

2% UVA-2
2% UVA-3
70

2%UVA-1/2%HALS-3
2%UVA-3 /2%HALS-3
50
0

500

1000

1500

2000

exposure time (hours)

Fig. 24. Effect of new UVA-3 and HALS-3 on color change of fir wood.

P. Hayoz et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 48 (2003) 297309

309

solventborne2P PUR coat upon UVA 340 light exposure

UVA in top coat / HALS-3 in primer

Yellowness index

100

unstabilized
2% UVA-1

80

2% UVA-2
60

2% UVA-3
2%UVA-3 /2%HALS-3

40
0

400

800

1200

exposure time (hours)

Fig. 25. Effect of new UVA-3 and HALS-3 on color change of fir wood.

1 % HALS-3 inwbprimer 0.25 % UVA-3in mid coat (wb acrylate),

0.5 % UVA-3in top coat (wb acrylate)
(amount is referred to formulation)

30

maple

Delta E

25
20

ash

cherry

15

tnu

10
5
0
unstabilized

stabilized

200 hours UVA 340 exposure

Fig. 26. Effect of UVA-3 and HALS-3 on color change of different wood species.

9. Conclusion
It has been shown that effective wood substrate color protection increases with the use of more photo-stable and more
red-shifted UV-screeners. UVA-3, which was designed to
meet these requirements, showed superior performance to
that of standard products. In addition, a hindered amine nitroxyl light stabilizer has been found, which provides significant improvement in color stabilization of wood when used
in impregnating pre-treatments with subsequent application
of a clear topcoat including UVA-3 as UV-screener. Both
new products, especially in combination as a two-component
protection system show very good application results on various natural light shade wood species. In these cases almost
total protection against discoloration was achieved.
Even if the experiments were mainly focused on indoor
applications, the combination of these new stabilizers are

being tested in outdoor applications as well (accelerated

weathering and outdoor testing).
References
[1] E. Sjstrm, Wood Chemistry, Fundamentals and Applications, 2nd
ed., Academic Press, San Diego, 1993, p. 249.
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223.
[3] H. Derbyshire, R. Miller, Holz Rohw. Werkst. 39 (1981) 341.
[4] J.-E.A. Otterstedt, J. Phys. Chem. 58 (1973) 5716.
[5] H.E.A. Kramer, et al., J. Phys. Chem. 99 (1995) 10097.
[6] H.E.A. Kramer, et al., J. Phys. Chem. A 104 (2000) 8296.
[7] E. Denisov, Proceedings of the International Symposium on
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[8] P. Klemchuk, M. Gande, E. Cordola, Polym. Degrad. Stab. 27 (1990)
65.