A series of experiments were carried out to investigate photo-degradation of thermally modified (at 210oC and – 0.9 bars for two hours) and non-modified spruce wood (Picea abies L (Karst)), coated with transparent and semitransparent (with 3% pigment content) acrylic coatings during artificial UV light irradiation for 200 hours. Photo-degradation was evaluated in terms of colour changes throughout the irradiation period at an interval of 50 hours, along with IR and EPR spectroscopic study. One set of modified and non-modified woods was painted with coatings, while the other set was covered with free films made of coatings, just to simulate coated wood. The average thickness of paint-coats and dried free films at 25oC and 50% RH was 144.8?m and 143.4?m for transparent and semitransparent coating, respectively. The colour changes for both modified and non-modified wood samples without paint-coat and free film cover were comparable to that of wood samples with paint-coat and free film cover for transparent coat type, which indicated its ineffectiveness to prevent photo-degradation of wood underneath. However, the colour changes for both modified and non-modified wood samples with paint-coat and free film cover were much more lower than that of samples without paint-coat and free film cover for semitransparent coat type, which might be due to hindrance of transmission of light energy through pigment to reach the underlying wood surface. On the other hand, whole substrate-coating systems showed better photo-stability, when thermally modified wood was used as substrate. It might be due to increase in lignin stability by condensation during thermal modification process of wood substrate. However, the colour changes of coat-painted and free-film covered samples for both modified and non modified woods might be due to due colour changes of wood specimen underneath, because free films of both the coat types showed negligible colour change during UV irradiation.

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