Comparative study of different linseed oil treatments on wood and hemp

Abstract

Just as the majority of vegetable materials, wood presents an important absorption rate. This property limits its use in cementitious matrix where a part of water dedicated to hydration of binder, and even the totality, is consumed by the vegetable part, affecting in a negative way mechanical and physicochemical properties of the final product. To limit this water absorption, one of the avenues is to coat vegetable material by linseed oil.

The study conducted allowed to evaluate the impact of pure and emulsion linseed oil coatings on maximal absorption rate of wood shavings as a function of different conditions of curing. In the same way, a comparative work has been realized in order to appreciate the efficacy of such treatments on another type of vegetables: hemp.

Results show that it is possible to identify the better conditions to polymerize linseed oil coatings and significantly reduce the water uptake of green aggregates. Moreover, a comparison between wood and hemp reveals a correlation between efficacy of studied treatments and intrinsic properties of considered green materials.