FireCellCoat Project is coming to completion. We have asked the partners about their experience in the project and their thoughts about future possibilities that this project has enabled.

What were the benefits of the collaboration within the project? Could it be improved somehow?

Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, WKI

For us, one of the main benefits was the multidisciplinary approach of the project. We had partners from all segments of the value chain involved, starting from nanocellulose production and ending with the final, tested product. Each partner could bring in their specific expertise which was of great value to the whole consortium. Especially the contribution of the industrial partner TEKNOS was very valuable. In addition, it was exciting to see how different countries work on issues in the context of bioeconomy. All partners have a strong interest in contributing to sustainable material solutions.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

The project partners had complementary skills, so we at VTT definitely learned a lot from others: generally about wood products, as well as their characterization, on preparation of latex coatings and how to include MFC into the formulations, about fire retardancy and its testing: what is important and what is not as well as on different coating methods, especially on spray coating.

Working in an international project during Covid-19 times showed that face-to-face meetings are still needed. In these meetings you can show materials and products to others in order to improve the understanding. The discussion is perhaps not so interactive during Teams meetings.

We all wish that there would have been more time to devote to this project. It has been complicated juggling between different projects in these already challenging times.

NTI (The Norwegian Institute of Wood Technology)

In our point of view, the three partners have complemented one another very well and gave each other interesting insights into their respective fields of expertise. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic posed challenges, not least regarding physical project meetings, which are very important for creating a close and trustful cooperation. However, WKI coordinated the project and streamlined the work flow very professionally, yet in a casual manner, which made it possible to collaborate efficiently despite of the challenging situation during the pandemic. 

What was your biggest learning from the project? And how did the project impact your research?

Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, WKI

Our most interesting finding was that it is possible to incorporate 15% by weight of nanocellulose in acrylic wood coatings. Prior to the project, only a maximum of 5% were accomplished. Testing of reaction to fire performance of wood coatings before and after artificial weathering is still ongoing. The results will be presented in upcoming conferences.  In addition, acrylic wood coatings have been tested in outdoor weathering tests. After one year of outdoor exposure, no damages have been detected so far.

The project has laid the foundation of further research project ideas in the area of flame retardant wood coatings as well as use of nanocellulose as a functional additive.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Learning to do things that we have not done before, as described in our answer above. In addition, we gained more information on our internal technologies, such as on modification on high consistency MFC and preparing wood coatings from the MFC.

NTI (The Norwegian Institute of Wood Technology)

During the last years, we have worked much with the influence of coatings on the moisture buffering capacity of wood, which means that wood products may moderate the indoor variations in relative humidity. This may be utilized to improve room climate and even save energy. The challenge is that wood products are usually coated for improving their aesthetics and technical properties; these coatings may significantly reduce the moisture buffering effect. FireCellCoat revealed the great potential of MFC-based coatings to maintain the moisture buffering capacity of wood.

How will the research continue?

Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, WKI

We are currently exploiting different options for future research projects with the project partners.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

At the time being we have no plans to continue the development of the fire retardant coatings. However, we are very much interest to pursue the idea on moisture buffering coatings with MFC.

NTI (The Norwegian Institute of Wood Technology)

The replacement of petroleum-based components with bio-based components is certainly one of the major fields of innovation in the coating world, and MFC as a renewable material can play an important role in this at different levels. One interesting research aspect is to use MFC for controlling the moisture dynamics of coatings and the wooden substrate, which we illustrated above mentioning the challenge of coatings to maintain wood’s moisture buffering capacity.

Any ideas of future collaboration between the partners?

Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, WKI

It was a great project, in which we learnt a lot and which gave us the opportunity for interdisciplinary exchange. It was a lot of fun to work with all the project partners, and the collaboration worked very well.

Since we are mainly involved in applied research, we are interested in further material development based on renewable resources for the building sector and other applications.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

We are actively seeking suitable funding calls with the partners.

NTI (The Norwegian Institute of Wood Technology)

All three partners would like to proceed the collaboration since there are a lot of interesting aspects that ask for more exploration. However, we do unfortunately not know yet how we will proceed, but we are currently looking for appropriate research calls.

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Cover Image: outdoor exposure of coatings made in FireCellCoat Project.