Flame resistant of birch plywood according to Main Ingredients of Fire retardant paint
Authors: Lim Soo-Hee, , Kong Ha-Sung, 
Published: June 2023

This study aims to comparative analyze the flame resistant of birch plywood according to using fire retardant paints. As interest in eco-friendly environmental issues has recently increased, wood, an eco-friendly material, is being used when people choose materials for interior design and furniture. Since wood is easily combustible and susceptible to fire, it should be mainly treated with a flame-retardant material to make up for the vulnerability. Bromine-based and chlorine-based materials, a type of halogen-based system with good flame resistant, were used for flame retardant treatment but those substances can cause toxic and harmful gas emissions when a fire occurs. That’s why these have been still regulated by rules. Although research to solve such problems has been actively conducted to develop phosphorus compound-based materials, nitrogen compound-based materials, and boron compound-based materials as fire retardant paints by applying different numbers and amount of fire retardant paint depending on each type and characteristic of it, attempts to comparative analyze the performance of each fire retardant paint have been still insufficient. Therefore, in order to analyze how the effect of the flame resistant varies whenever the main components and theoretical application amount of each fire retardant paint are applied differently, this study intends to measure the char length and area of birch plywood according to standard of the Nation Fire Agency in Republic of Korea. In this experiment, we used three types of fire retardant paints, each containing ammonium polyphosphate, emulsion resin, and phosphorus-based mixture as main components. Each fire retardant paint was applied to the birch plywood in 150g/m2, 180g/m2, 180g/m2 based on the theoretical application amount. As a control, a non-flame-retardant treated specimen was added. Based on the experiment, the following conclusions were obtained. First, the after flame time and after glow time satisfied the flame resistant standard of the Nation Fire Agency of Republic Korea regardless of the fire retardant paint for each manufacturer. Second, the flame resistant according to the fire retardant paint of each manufacturer was tested. As a result, when ammonium polyphosphate-based fire retardant paint was treated on birch plywood, the value of char length and char area was the smallest, and the effect of flame resistant was clearly shown to be excellent. Third, one fact was confirmed based on the results of previous studies and this study. When two types of fire retardant paint containing a phosphorus-based mixture were treated on a birch plywood, the flame resistant was different according to the technology development of each manufacturer. Through this study, the effect of the flame resistant was different depending on the fire retardant paint of each manufacturer. In order to secure fire safety of indoor furniture using wood construction and wood in the future, it is necessary to select fire retardant paints with high flame resistant depending on the materials of each type. Also, it is judged that it is necessary to compare and analyze the flame resistant of each manufacturer's fire retardant paint for various tree species. Not only that, The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for selecting fire retardant paints with high flame resistant for each tree species and used as basic data for the production of semi-non-combustible wood suitable for flame resistant standard of the Nation Fire Agency of Republic Korea in the future.