Abstract
Wood texture has a beautiful appearance and tactile feeling, making it very appropriate for furniture applications. However, the fabrication of a wood texture on wood-based boards can be inefficient and less green when performed using conventional methods. In this study, a wood-like surface on a wood-based board was designed to imitate a wood texture using 3D printing technology. To obtain a high-quality wood texture template for 3D printing, the sharpness of the wood texture was evaluated by image sharpness models, and the scanned wood texture was optimized by colorimetric parameter and sharpness adjustments. The wood texture coating, which was mainly composed of acrylated oligomers, was UV-inkjet 3D printed on the medium-density fiberboard (MDF) from an obtained template. The properties of the printed wood texture coating on the MDF, including its gloss, wearability, adhesion, and hardness, were measured. The results showed that a wood texture coating with high processability can be feasibly 3D printed on MDF to obtain comparable decoration using commercial products.
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Surface Design of Wood-Based Board to Imitate Wood Texture Using 3D Printing Technology
Xinhao Feng,a,b Zhihui Wu,b,* Ruijuan Sang,b Fei Wang,b Yayuan Zhu,b and Meijin Wu b
Wood texture has a beautiful appearance and tactile feeling, making it very appropriate for furniture applications. However, the fabrication of a wood texture on wood-based boards can be inefficient and less green when performed using conventional methods. In this study, a wood-like surface on a wood-based board was designed to imitate a wood texture using 3D printing technology. To obtain a high-quality wood texture template for 3D printing, the sharpness of the wood texture was evaluated by image sharpness models, and the scanned wood texture was optimized by colorimetric parameter and sharpness adjustments. The wood texture coating, which was mainly composed of acrylated oligomers, was UV-inkjet 3D printed on the medium-density fiberboard (MDF) from an obtained template. The properties of the printed wood texture coating on the MDF, including its gloss, wearability, adhesion, and hardness, were measured. The results showed that a wood texture coating with high processability can be feasibly 3D printed on MDF to obtain comparable decoration using commercial products.
Keywords: Surface design; Coatings; Wood texture; Image processing; Wood-based board; UV-inkjet
Contact information: a: Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; b: College of Furnishings and Industrial Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, Jiangsu, China;
* Corresponding author: wzh550@sina.com (Zhihui Wu)
INTRODUCTION
Wood, as a natural material, has been extensively used in furnishings and decorations because of its distinctive appearances in various facets (Fig. 1a), such as warm colors, varied texture patterns, mellow gloss, etc. (Broman 2001; Marschner et al. 2005). These characteristics provide its owner with psychological and physiological satisfaction but also increase the value of a product by surface decoration with wood-like materials (such as wood veneer or decorative paper, Fig. 1b). Therefore, products with wood texture characteristics are commonly used in indoor applications, such as wooden floors and furniture (Nakamura et al. 2010; Cristea et al. 2011; Burnard and Kutnar 2015; Lozhechnikova et al. 2017) (Fig. 1c). Due to the decreasing wood resources and the increasing price of rare wood species (the appearance of rare species is popular in wooden products), wood veneer and decorative paper with printed wood texture are glued onto wood- or composite-based materials to replace wooden materials in many applications, especially furnishings (Roberts and Evans 2005; Kandelbauer and Teischinger 2010; Guo et al. 2016; Zhou et al. 2017). However, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde, are released from these materials, which can potentially cause health problems, especially for interior furniture (Kim et al. 2010; Liu and Zhu 2014). Moreover, the process of gluing the wood veneer or decorative paper is complicated, and the printed wood texture on the decorative paper does not perform as well as the “real” wood texture, as the “real” wood texture provides a higher three-dimensional aesthetic appearance than a printed wood texture. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a feasible strategy for the efficient and environmentally friendly preparation of wood texture coated materials to improve the quality of the wooden aesthetic materials for interior applications.