A newly developed silicone oil (Archroma Management GmbH, Switzerland) was tested for wood modification purposes. Scots pine sapwood was treated with aqueous solutions of this silicone oil and showed a penetration of the modification agent into the wood cell wall. Both, biological durability and moisture-related properties, experienced significant improvements by the modification. Besides, the modification generated a significantly improved weathering performance of wood during outdoor exposure. The molecules of the silicone oil formulation can be fixated inside the wood cell wall by drying the impregnated wood blocks at temperatures < 80 °C. Thus, this technology differs significantly to existing cell wall penetrating wood modification technologies, which necessitate a high temperature curing (> 100 °C) for a proper fixation of the modification agent inside the wood matrix. By that, the presented silicone oil treatment shows high potential for an implementation in impregnation and drying plants, which at present exist and operate in the wood preservative and wood processing industry. For this reason, the technological simplicity eliminates technological and financial hurdles, which most of the existing chemical wood modification technologies suffer and may speed up an implementation of this technology on an industrial scale.

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