Forest Products Laboratory

Title: Effect of Boron and Phosphate compounds on Thermal and Fire Properties of wood/HDPE composites

Author: Akbulut, Turgay; Ayrilmis, Nadir; Dundar, Turker; Durmus, Ali; White, Robert H.; Teker, Murat

Date: 2011

Source: International Journal of Polymers and Technologies

Description: Melting and non-isothermal crystallization behaviors, oxidative induction time, and fire performance of the injection-molded wood flour-high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites (WPCs) incorporated with different levels (4, 8, or 12 wt %) of boron compounds [borax/boric acid (BX/BA) (0.5:0.5 wt %), zinc borate (ZB)] and phosphorus compounds [mono- and di-ammonium phosphate] were investigated. The samples without the boron or phosphate had a HDPE content of 60%. The effect of the coupling agent loading (2, 4, or 6 wt %, maleic anhydride-grafted PE (MAPE)), on the above mentioned properties of the treated WPCs was also investigated. Heat release rate (HRR) measurements were conducted with a cone calorimeter. WPC samples including inorganic fire retardant particles generally exhibited higher degree of crystallinity values than control sample. Furthermore, degree of crystallinity increases with the increasing amount of FRs. the DAP and MAP with MAPE significantly increased the OIT values of the WPC compared to other FRs. The FR treatments produced modest improvements in fire performance as indicated by reductions in the heat release rates. Reducing both the wood fiber content and the polymer content equally to accommodate the addition of the FR chemicals likely reduced the net improvement provided by the FR treatment.

Keywords: Boron; phosphate; HDPE; fire retardants; thermal properties; wood plastic composite

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Citation

Akbulut, Turgay; Ayrilmis, Nadir; Dundar, Turker; Durmus, Ali; White, Robert H.; Teker, Murat  2011.  Effect of Boron and Phosphate compounds on Thermal and Fire Properties of wood/HDPE composites.   International Journal of Polymers and Technologies.