Experimental study on combustion characteristics of engineered bamboo considering smoldering and self-extinction

Abstract

Bamboo and wood materials have the characteristics of low carbon and high strength, making them the best building material for building green buildings. Compared to traditional building materials, the easy to burn characteristic has become an obstacle to the promotion and widespread application of bamboo and wood materials, so it is urgent to study their combustion characteristics. This article investigated the combustion characteristics of engineered bamboo at different heat fluxes, taking into account the smoldering and self-extinction characteristics through cone calorimeter experiments. The combustion performance, mass loss rate, heat release rate, etc. were studied, and the self-extinction phenomenon of the specimens was explored. The results indicated that the direction of heating had a certain impact on the combustion characteristics of glued laminated bamboo (LBL), and the fire resistance of parallel strand bamboo (PSB) was better than that of LBL. When the heat flux exceeded 50 kW/m2, the color of the flame on the surface of the specimen would change from bright yellow to strong orange, which is an important sign that the flame will self-extinguish. The self-extinction of flames at different heat fluxes was caused by insufficient supply of combustible gas generated by bamboo pyrolysis, with slightly different specific reasons. The multi-layer structure of glued laminated bamboo also makes it more difficult to self-extinguish than PSB, cross-laminated timber (CLT), and solid wood is the most prone to self-extinguish. The impact of adhesive layer delamination was not considered in this experiment, and further research is needed.