A Study on Water Repellent Effectiveness of Natural Oil-Applied Soil as a Building Material

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the water repellent effectiveness of natural oil-applied soil when it is used as a building material. Natural oil types such as olive oil, bean oil, perilla oil and linseed oil, which are being used for producing water repellent timber, are selected for the experiments. It is expected that perilla oil and in seed oil, which are drying oil types will have better water repellent effectiveness than the other types. For the evaluation of water repellence of natural oil-applied soil, a contact angle test was performed. A contact angle of water drop on various surface conditions were tested, and large differences were seen between the natural oil-applied soil and untreated soil. As a result, it is showed that all natural oil types have water repellent effectiveness. However, linseed oil, which is a drying oil type, shows an outstanding water repellent effectiveness value, while perila oil, which is also a drying oil type, shows the lowest value. Additionally, results show that there is no link between water repellent effectiveness and the number of applications of natural oil. Nevertheless, existing commercial water repellents show better performance than natural oil, and it is anticipated that the results of this study will provide essential information for further research to enhance the water repellent effectiveness of soil as a building material.