Fire Behaviour of Wood and Wood Based Panels Treated with Fire Retardants, 1995 European Polymers, Laminations and Coatings Proceedings

Zuzanna Huntierova

Technical University

Gerd Wegener

Peter Topf

Institute for Wood Research

The study involved particleboards of various densities, made from spruce and beech, multi-ply plywood (beech, spruce) and laminated beams coated with six different intumescent coatings and one ablative coating. Five of these are normally used to improve the fire resistance of steel constructions and the reliability of electric cable systems and cable ducts.

In a small test furnace (DIN 4102 Part 8) the materials thus protected were exposed to fire from one side according to the standard time-temperature curve (DIN 4102 Part 2) and in a wall test furnace (DIN 4102 Part 2) from all four sides.

The criteria for the assessment of the fire behaviour of the tested materials were temperature rise, related charring rates and the change in elastomechanic properties for fir beams loaded in bending in the wall test furnace.

In all cases the charring rate was considerably reduced, whereas fire resistance of the loaded beams was only slightly improved.