The hydrophobic and water-repellent properties of wattle bark extractives

Summary

Based on the fact that bark is an almost perfect water barrier and assuming that bark is impregnated with materials which aid in rendering it impermeable to water, the hydrophobic and water-repellent properties of several bark extractives were investigated. Products obtained after extraction with polar and non-polar solvents showed widely different properties. Some were extremely hydrophobic and water-repellent with a water-solid-air contact angle higher than 100°. These were the products obtained from extraction with benzene and mineral turpentine. Alcohol and acetone extractives had contact angles as low as 23° but coatings from some of these materials nevertheless had a high efficiency as water barriers. The efficiency of the various extractives as water repellents or water barriers was determined by coating wood with 10 per cent solutions of the extractives in different solvents and determining the extent to which water could be prevented from being absorbed and causing swelling of the wood and thereby reduce the dimensional changes of the wood. The extractives obtained with nonpolar solvents were extremely efficient as true water repellents while the polar aleohol extracts were far better than could be expected from their almost hydrophilic properties. Nature has therefore provided for hydrophilic film-formers combined with hydrophobic materials which act as a double line of defence against water absorption. The hydrophilic extractives, in addition, act as a bridging agent between the strongly hydrophobic extractives and the hydrophilic cell wall material.

Since some of the extractives from wattle bark have excellent hydrophobic properties, and since this bark is available in large quantities as a waste product after tannins have been extracted, the utilization of certain wattle bark extractives as water repellents could be economically attractive.