Antifungal protection of different wood coatings: An overview

摘要

Tree is one of the wonder materials offered by the nature to living beings. Wood originates from trees and since then, living beings are making use of this naturally occurring and economically feasible renewable resource. Chemically, wood is made up of three substances called cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses which are responsible for strengthening of wood. It is evident from the data that wood is tough, light and flexible compared to other construction material and has a good dimensional stability against weathering properties[1]. Because of its exceptionally versatile properties, wood has become an integral part of billions of living spaces. Unlike metal, wood does not corrode, however because of its porous nature and biological nutrients, wood is always prone to various microbial attack and one of the most important microbe amongst them is fungus. In spite of chemically complex properties of wooden substrate, human being has overcome this challenge by successfully developing various types of wood coatings with anti-fungal resistance as one of the property. This article surveys about the availability of wood coatings for protecting against fungal growth, their behaviour against various fungi and future considerations.