Appearance, corrosion properties, and leach resistance of spruce and pine wood treated with Mea modified micronized copper preservative (MCu)

Canadian refractory wood species treated with micronized copper (MCu) wood preservative become mottled and streaky in appearance. To overcome this issue, the MCu system was modified by adding small amounts of monoethanolamine (Mea). The modified systems were evaluated to clarify the role of Mea in terms of leaching, corrosion, and mold resistance of MCu systems. The mottled and streaky surface on treated spruce was prevented at Mea/Cu molar ratios between 0.7 and 1.5. Copper leaching remained modest and was only slightly higher than that of MCu alone up to a Mea/Cu molar ratio of 1.2. However, adding even a small amount of Mea to the MCu formulation increased fastener corrosion compared with MCu. Protonated Mea increased as more Mea was added and was identified as the main corrosion-causing electrolyte in the system.