Environment-Friendly Waterborne Fire Retardants for Protection of Wood and Bark against Fire Flames

Abstract

Flame retardancy was induced in maple (Acer velutinum) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) wood and bark by means of mixtures consisting of bio-based materials such as starch (S) and glue (G) and water-based paint, MINWAX (M) in two different combined formulations with perlite (P) as the main fire retardant. The selected wood species as solid wood with two different treatable surfaces (with and without bark) were examined. The lowest and the highest mass loss occurred in the untreated-ash and untreated-maple wood samples with bark, while the lowest weight percent gain was related to PSGM-treated ash wood samples with bark, and the highest weight percent gain was related to PSGM-treated maple wood samples without bark. The lowest time to ignition and glowing point time were measured in the untreated-maple wood samples without bark, and the highest of them were measured in the PSGM-treated ash wood samples without bark. The effect of bark in the treated- and untreated-maple samples on the time to ignition and glowing point time was greater than the bark of treated- and untreated-ash samples, respectively. There was not any significant relationship between actual retention, weight percent gain, and mass loss for all treatments. However, there was significant difference between the individual and interaction agents on fire retardancy of treated and untreated samples.

Keywords

• fire retardants
• maple and ash
• wood and bark
• time to ignition
• glowing point