Cone calorimeter analysis of Fire Retardant TreatedenFRT intumescent and untreated foam core particleboards

The effectiveness of treatments of the surface layer of novel foam core particleboards were evaluated by means of Cone calorimeter tests. Foam core particleboards with variations of surface layer treatment, adhesives and surface layer thicknesses under similar processing conditions were used to produce the test specimen for the Cone calorimeter tests. Ignitability, heat release rate profile, peak of heat release rate, total heat released, effective heat of combustion, mass loss rate, gaseous emissions and specific extinction area were measured using the cone irradiance of 50 kW/m2. Additional analysis of this data provided fuel composition information that could reveal the pyrolysis events of the composite boards. Thermocouples at various depths were used to provide further verification of pyrolysis events. The unprotected foam core panels generally had much higher heat release rates, somewhat higher heat of combustion and much higher smoke production due to the EPS-foam component of tested panels, whereas time to ignition and total heat release were not pronounced from the veneer treated boards. Adding the commercial FRT veneer to the face particleboard provided a dramatic improvement to the measured flammability properties. It worked sufficiently well with a 3 mm thick surface layer to improve the predicted flame spread rating of the foam core particleboards