Abstract
Shou sugi ban, also known as yakisugi, or just sugi ban, is an aesthetic wood surface treatment that involves charring the surface of dimensional lumber, such as exterior cladding. The goal of this research is to examine the effect of shou sugi ban on the flammability and decay resistance of wood. Several species and variants of commercially available sugi ban were tested. The flammability was examined from the heat release rate curves using the oxygen consumption method and cone calorimeter. Durability was examined with a soil block assay for one white-rot fungus and one brown-rot fungus. The testing showed that the shou sugi ban process did not systematically improve the flammability or durability of the siding.
Highlights
Charring wood is an ancient technique for preserving wood and protecting it from fire [1,2]
Called “shou sugi ban”, “sugi ban”, or “yakisugi”, this technique is often applied to siding materials
The yakisugi process is thought to increase durability by: (1) removing surface carbohydrates; (2) producing a hydrophobic surface char layer; (3) infusing the remaining wood with smoke from the charring process as volatiles released in the smoke that may have fungistatic properties
Summary
Charring wood is an ancient technique for preserving wood and protecting it from fire [1,2]. Sugi ban is thought to have originated in the 1600s in the Edo region of Japan ( known as Tokyo) and was originally developed to fire-harden wooden homes in the densely populated cities in growing urban areas that frequently encountered catastrophic structural fires [3]. This primitive approach to fire protection is thought to improve biological resistance of materials to mold and decay fungi. From the standpoint of fire performance, char provides a passive insulating layer that retards further degradation of the wood below the char [5]
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