Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Coatings on the Combustion Characteristics of Swedish Pine

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in façade fires, which brought an urgent demand for relevant research to reduce façade flame spread. Wooden components, e.g., balconies and decking, are widely used as part of buildings and their façades and its preservation by chemical treatment is essential for their protection. Nevertheless, the use of wood preservatives can influence their fire properties. In this work, the effect of wood preservatives on wooden decking is experimentally investigated. Heat release rate and ignition times are recorded for Swedish pine samples coated with three different water-based preservatives and compared with non-coated samples and ones treated with fire retardants in the cone calorimeter test. thermal gravimetric analysis is conducted to determine reaction rate peaks and their reference temperature. A simplified kinetic model is derived from the experimental results, which may contribute to later computational work.