Surface engineering to enhance the performance of exterior wood decking

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Decking is a flooring material used outdoors in both residential and non-residential sectors. The North American market for decking is valued at 6 billion dollars p.a. equating to the production of 3 billion lineal feet of decking annually. The decking market is important for Canadian companies who manufacture 300 million lineal feet of decking boards p.a. However, this important market is declining because of the emergence of products made from plastics and wood-plastic composites. All these products maintain their appearance better than wood decking when used outdoors and require less maintenance. But wooden decking used in North America still resembles commodity lumber and little is done to engineer the surface of deck boards so that they can resist the effects of the weather and maintain their appearance when used outdoors. This situation is quite different to the market for interior flooring which is dominated by engineered products that are visually appealing, hard wearing and easy to install and maintain. Taking our cue from the latter sector and working with some of the leading forest products and chemical companies in Canada this project seeks to engineer wooden decking that can compete more effectively with decking made from plastic. The approaches we will use to re-engineer decking build on a decade of research on developing physical and chemical treatments to block the photodegradation and cracking of wood used outdoors. We will use digital image correlation of surface strains to develop a deeper understanding of why treatments such as surface profiling and incising reduce the cracking of wood. We will optimize surface profiling and sub-surface kerfing and hydrophobic resin treatments and test them on Canadian wood species that have potential to be used for decking. We will combine the most promising physical and chemical treatments, evaluate the most promising systems, and manufacture superior wooden decking products on a pilot scale. The major deliverable for this project is wood decking made from Canadian species that can effectively compete in the market place with decking made from plastic.