Effect of Boron-Zinc-Aluminum-Silicium Compounds on the Fire Performance of Ultra-Low Density Fiberboards (ULDFs)

Abstract

B-Zn-Si-Al compounds, as a modification of Si-Al compounds, is made of sodium silicate, zinc sulfate, borax and aluminum sulfate, acting as a fire retardant during the preparation of ultra-low density fiberboards (ULDFs). An orthogonal experiment was used to optimize the amount of the four compounds, according to the results of limiting oxygen index. Fourier transform infrared spectra was employed to preliminarily make sure chemical structure of the compounds. Cone calorimeter was used measure fire performance of ULDFs. The results suggested that the optimized sodium silicate solution, aluminum sulfate solution, zinc sulfate and borax were 27.0 mL, 27.0 mL, 3.0 g and 6.5 g, respectively, corresponding to oxygen index of 29.5%. Al-O-B and Si-O-Zn bonds were detected at 1397, 796 cm-1 and 867 cm-1, respectively. The heat release rate, total heat release, and total smoke release obviously decreased and mass residual ratio increased. Conclusively, B-Zn-Si-Al compounds effectively protect fibers from fire hazard.

Keywords

• Ultra-low density
• Optimization
• Fire performance
• B-Zn-Si-Al compounds
• Cone calorimeter