Flame Protection Technologies for Wood: Developing and Testing for Fire of Timbers with a Flame-retardant Coating Based on the Epoxy-amine Composite Modified by Copper(II) Hexafluorosilicate

Abstract

A new type of fire-retardant coating for wood based on epoxy-amine composites modified with copper(II) hexafluorosilicate has been developed. To optimize the composition of the fire-retardant coating, the values of ignition and self-ignition temperatures, the combustibility group indices and the smoke generation coefficient of the developed epoxy-amine composites were used. It was found that the values of the ignition and self-ignition temperatures of epoxy-amine composites containing a flame retardant are higher than those of composites without it, by 15–34 °C and 25–58 °C, respectively. Compared to unmodified epoxy-amine composites, CuSiF6-modified epoxy-amine composites have 204–327 °C lower values of the maximum temperature of combustion gases and 7.8–10.4% less mass loss during combustion. It is shown that modified epoxy-amine composites with an optimized composition are classified as hardly combustible materials with moderate smoke-forming ability. Based on the results of experimental studies, the technological mode of coating the wood was chosen. The developed epoxy-amine composite with reduced combustibility has been used as a fire-retardant coating for wooden structures. Testing for fire showed that developed coating belongs the first group of fire protection efficiency, which ensures reliable fire protection of wood. In contrast, the coatings based on epoxy-amine composites without a flame retardant do not provide fire protection of wood at all.