Study of Burning Behaviors and Fire Risk of Flame Retardant Plywood by Cone Calorimeter and TG Test

Abstract

A flame retardant composition was prepared by using phosphoguanidine, guanidine sulfamate, disodium octaborate tetrahydrate and dodecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride. Veneers were immersed in such flame retardant mixture to prepare plywood. The combustion characteristics and thermal stability of plywood were assessed using a cone calorimeter and TG. Results showed that: (1) High concentration and loading of flame retardant were beneficial for the fire resistance of the plywood. (2) The limiting oxygen index (LOI) and residual mass of plywood processed using the flame retardant was increased by 87.52% and 58.66% compared to those of the untreated plywood, while the average heat release rate (av-HRR), total heat release (THR), effective heat of combustion (EHC), total smoke release (TSR), CO yield (COY), CO₂ yield (CO₂Y) and oxygen consumption were decreased by 44.3%, 82.9%, 47.0%, 86.0%, 89.9%, 50.1% and 83.1%, respectively. (3) Treated plywood which had a low fire growth index (FGI) displayed a later combustion heat release rate peak and slower flame spread than observed for the untreated material. Combustion of treated plywood displayed a higher fire performance index (FPI), indicating a longer time to ignition. This suggests that burning structures from this material would be subject to a longer time for escape from the structure and would present lower fire risk than similar structures containing treated plywood. (4) TG results demonstrated that the presence of the flame retardant can decrease the pyrolysis temperature for hemicellulose and cellulose, change the decomposition and reaction progress for plywood degradation and promote dehydration carbonization and accelerated charformation. Moreover, the formed char was more stable than that combustion of untreated plywood. (5) The flame retardant contains nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), boron (B), chlorine (Cl) and guanidine (Gu) compounds. The adhesive also contains N and P compounds. These substances display flame resistance and supplement each other to generate flame retardance than any one used alone. By changing the thermolysis and thermal decomposition processes, the heat release and smoke release from plywood, undergoing combustion was reduced. This controlled generation of combustible substances and promoted dehydration and carbonization to form char. As a result, the flame resistance of plywood was improved significantly. The probability of smoke asphyxia or poisoning death of those trapped in structures containing treated plywood during fire accidents can be decreased dramatically.