Environmentally friendly wooden-based coatings for thermal insulation: Design, manufacturing and performances

The design of an innovative protective and thermal insulating coating is investigated. The coating is composed of two superimposed layers; the innermost layer consists of dried beech dust dispersed in a diluted polyurethane binder, while the outermost layer is a conventional decorative hybrid epoxy-polyester powder coating. Each layer was sprayed on a metal substrate and baked at moderate temperature to consolidate the coatings and establish their full properties. The morphological features, mechanical response, protective and thermal insulating performance of the coatings were experimentally analysed by varying their structure and dried beech dust concentration in the binder. These coatings exhibit high potential in terms of thermal insulation and also show remarkable behaviour in terms of visual appearance, adhesion to the substrate and long lasting. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.