DETERMINATION OF THE SUITABILITY OF OIL PALM FIBRE COMPOSITE FOR BUILDING APPLICATIONS BY CONE CALORIMETER AND THERMAL ANALYSIS

T O Suoware,F L Sorgbara,S O Edelugo,C O Amgbari

doi:10.52417/ojes.v1i2.151

Abstract

The high yielding of oil pam fibre reinforced composite (OPFC) to fire has necessitated research to improve and develop fire retardants (FR) to mitigate the spread of fire. Researchers relied on Flame Retardants (FR) classified as either halogenated or non-halogenated based FR to improve the performance of composites with emphasis on flammability properties (FP). The main object of this paper is to evaluate the effect of six non-halogenated FR species in OPFC to meet required fire safety standards for building purposes. The six FR species comprising aluminum tri-hydroxide (ATH), ammonium polyphosphate (APP), Gum Arabic powder (GAP) and carbon black (CB) were processed with OPFC at 0, 15 and 18% loading ratio using hand lay-up compression moulding technique. Specimens cut from the OPFC panels were tested for flammability and thermal properties using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DSC Metlar Toledo) and cone calorimeter apparatus respectively. The result obtained for thermal analysis shows that the panel was thermally stable at 391.6OC before degradation began compared to those without FR while peak flammability properties obtained for heat released rates, mass loss rates and smoke production rates showed the OPFC panels rapid fire response were significantly reduced respectively by 67.4%, 50.9% and 37.5% compared to those without FR. It can be concluded that the hybrid FR comprising APP-GAP showed a stable char structure during fire and thus prevented the escape of combustible volatiles which reduced the peak FP values of the OPFC panels. These flammability properties could be said to meet required fire safety standards for building applications.

Highlights

In the world of composites, fibres obtained from natural sources are becoming very attractive for non-structural building applications probably because of their huge benefits which includes but not limited to low-cost, abundant availability, lightweight, environmental benign and biodegradability as reported by Layth et al, (2015)
Specimens cut from the oil palm fibre reinforced polymer composite (OPFC) were tested for thermal stability using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DSC 1; Metller Toledo analyzer) at the University of Edinburgh as well as for flammability properties using the cone calorimeter apparatus by PL thermal sciences located in the fire laboratory of university of Edinburgh, Scotland
From the thermal stability analysis, it can be concluded that the panels did not exhibit any significant change when flame retardants (FR) were added as early degradation was observed

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In the world of composites, fibres obtained from natural sources are becoming very attractive for non-structural building applications probably because of their huge benefits which includes but not limited to low-cost, abundant availability, lightweight, environmental benign and biodegradability as reported by Layth et al, (2015). To reduce the flammability risk of the oil palm composite panels to meet current fire safety standards for various building applications, flame retardants (FR) are usually added to the panels during fabrication. Flame retarded OPFC panels can be manufactured either by incorporating halogenated based or halogenated free of FR as well as a lignocellulosic fibre bonded by polymer matrix to obtain lightweight panels through different processing techniques as reported by Marjavaara et al, (2009) and Virk et al, (2012). Kim et al, (2014) studied the effect of a commercially available ATH on the flammability and smoke intensity properties of kenaf and oil palm fibre reinforced composites and obtained promising results. Ertugrul et al, (2017) studied the effect of APP in combination with graphite in FR wood-polypropylene composite, the flammability properties (FP) obtained showed some level of improvements. The main objective in this paper is to develop and examine the FR effect on the flammability and thermal behaviour of oil palm composite panel

MATERIALS AND METHODS

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS