Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the flammability of ecologically friendly, 100% natural larch and poplar bark-based panels bonded with clay. The clay acted as a fire retardant, and it improved the fire resistance of the boards by 12–15% for the surface and 27–39% for the edge of the testing specimens. The thermal conductivity was also analyzed. Although the panels had a density ranging from 600 to 900 kg/m3, thermal conductivity for the panel with a density of 600 kg/m3 was excellent, and it was comparable to lightweight insulation panels with much lower densities. Besides that, the advantage of the bark clay boards, as an insulation material, is mostly in an accumulative capacity similar to wood cement boards, and it can significantly improve the climatic stability of indoor spaces that have low ventilation rates. Bark boards with clay, similar to wood cement composites (wood wool cement composites and wood particle cement composites), have low mechanical properties and elasticity. Therefore, there their use is limited to non-structural paneling applications. These ecologically friendly, 100% natural and recyclable composites can be mostly used with respect to their thermal insulation, acoustics and fire resistance properties.
Highlights
The susceptibility to fire of bio-composites has not been broadly researched yet
Thickness swelling of the bark composites bonded with clay was observable because the test specimen (n = 10) started to disperse after water immersion within one hour
Only the results for the UF-bonded bark panel are available: thickness swelling after 1 h: 2.5%, after 2 h: 4% and after 24 h: 8.68%; water absorption after 1 h: 6%, after 2 h: 7.7% and after 24 h: 41.74%
Summary
The susceptibility to fire of bio-composites has not been broadly researched yet. There is a lot of potential for the use of biomass in different engineered products for buildings where the main concern is fire hazards [1]. The natural wood fiber reinforcement starts decomposition at about 200 ◦ C, compared to the hydrocarbon backbones of most polymeric adhesives, which degrade without leaving any residue [2]. Novel bio-based reinforcements should be developed, which are simultaneously fire resistant and mechanically sound [3]. Bio-fiber composites are renewable, partially or completely recyclable, lightweight and relatively cheap [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Their disadvantages include their hydrophilic nature and poor fire resistance [10,11,12]
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