Treatment of natural wood veneers with nano-oxides to improve their fire behaviour

Abstract

Conventional flame retardants used to improve fire behaviour of wood based materials are commonly based on halogenated and/or nitrogenated chemicals. These chemicals are toxic and can harm the environment and human health. Some works describe the incorporation of nanomaterials to the polymeric systems to improve their fire behaviour. The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of several treatments based on the use of nanomaterials on the properties of natural wood veneers and mainly on their fire behaviour. Firstly, several modes for treating pine veneers (immersion, spraying and impregnation) were evaluated using a commercial flame retardant to select the most effective treatment. The treatment selected as the most effective was immersion in a bath of flame retarding agent for 30 minutes at standard conditions. Afterward, pine veneers were treated by immersion in aqueous dispersions which contained 3wt% of the following nanoparticles: SiO2, TiO2 and ZrO2, respectively. The effect of each treatment on the properties of veneers was analyzed. The results obtained showed that the treatment based on the use of 3wt% SiO2 aqueous dispersion was the most effective to improve the fire behaviour of pine veneers.