Extruded wood plastic composites (WPCs) are nowadays an established building material in Europe. The advantages of WPCs compared to solid wood for outdoor products are for example dimensional stability and less maintenance, mainly due to a lower moisture sorption rate in the composites. One feature of WPCs shared with solid wood products is the risk of mould growth on the surface of the material. In this study, a commercial extruded WPC profile with and without added fungicide has been evaluated with respect to resistance to mould growth. The experiment was performed in an environmental chamber, according to ASTM D3273. The results indicate a significantly lower mould growth rate on all the WPCs formulations compared to solid wood coated with a distemper paint as control. No mould growth was observed after four weeks test on one type of fungicide-containing WPC.
Keywords: WPC, mould, fungicide
Authors
Segerholm B.K.
KTH, Royal institute of Technology, Building Materials, Stockholm Sweden
SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, EcoBuild, Stockholm, Sweden
Wålinder M.E.P.
KTH, Royal institute of Technology, Building Materials, Stockholm Sweden
SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, EcoBuild, Stockholm, SWEDEN
Bardage S.L
SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Wood technology, Stockholm, Sweden
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