Fabrication and characterization of reversible thermochromic wood veneers.

Leuco dyes are widely used as functional materials for their thermosensitive chromogenic nature. The influences of thermochromic compounds and impregnation processing conditions on thermochromic wood veneer properties were investigated in this paper. The thermochromic compounds included thermochromic dye (ODB-2), color developer (bisphenol A) and solvent (1-tetradecanol). To achieve the maximum color change, the optimum mixing ratio of ODB-2 to bisphenol A to 1-tetradecanol was 1:2:60. Juglans mandshurica veneers were ultrasonically impregnated with reversible thermochromic compound suspensions. Analysis of variance showed that the influences of impregnation parameters on veneer color change were significant at the 0.05 level. The optimum thermochromic wood veneer can be obtained by impregnating with a thermochromic compound suspension for 2.0 min at 65 °C. In this paper, the thermochromic properties of wood veneers were evaluated, and functional thermochromic veneers exhibited excellent properties and thermostability.