Fire safety and flame-retardant property of representative wood-based composites

This paper considers the mass loss rate, specific extinction area, Heat Release Rate (HRR), Effective Heat Combustion (EHC), Total Heat Release (THR) and Ignitability Efficiency (IE) as the fire-hazard indices of Wood-Based Composites (WBCs). Fire-retardant dipped paper plays a major role in the flame resistance of WBCs. An optimized cone calorimeter is developed, and the flame-retardant properties of plain and modified WBCs are assessed. The HRR curves reach the wave crest at a high rate with no distinct peaks in the period of 81 s to 320 s. EHC histograms are slightly low, where their increasing tendencies are not apparent within the time range of 110 s-320 s. However, the relatively small THR of modified Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) indicates that it emits less heat with a minor fire risk. We conclude that IE follows the order: MDF with dipped paper ⪅ plywood with dipped paper ⪅chipboard with dipped paper, with the chipboard showing the largest combustion risk.