Artículos de revistas
Termite resistance of wood–plastic composites treated with zinc borate and borax
Autor
RICARDO HERBE CRUZ ESTRADA
Institución
Resumen
It has been reported that pinewood residue/recycled high density polyethylene composites
with 40 wt% of wood were attacked by termites native to the Yucatan Peninsula (Nasutitermes
nigriceps). Thus, this article gives account of how effective environmentally friendly borates are
(i.e. borax and zinc borate) to protect this kind of composites. Before biotic exposure,
composites’ samples were subjected to 1000 and 2000 h of accelerated weathering, using a
ultraviolet-type accelerated tester equipped with UVA-340 fluorescent lamps and respectively
impregnated with 1, 2, and 3% aqueous solutions of both borates, following the ASTM D 1413
standard test method as reference. A reduction in the treated samples’ weight loss was
observed, which indicated that they increasedtheir resistance to termite attack. No weight
losses occurred when the solutions with 3% of both borates were respectively used. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy revealed that these solutions did not damage the composites’ surface. The results show that both borates experimented with have the potential to be
used as termiticides for wood–plastic composites without damaging the environment.