Lightweight Flame-retardant Material Reinforced with Hevea Brasiliensis Ash Intumescent Agent

Abstract

Flame retardant materials play an important role in many building construction components. The ability of building components to resist fire is crucial to the safety and well-being of the occupants. This research examines a lightweight flame-retardant material-Vermiculite (V) reinforced with a renewable Hevea Brasiliensis Biomass Ash Intumescent Agent (HBAIA) in different compositions. Four specimens of vermiculite reinforced with HBAIA (V/HBAIA) with standard size 200 mm x 200 mm x 10 mm (W x Lx H) were fabricated for investigations. All V/HBAIA specimens were assessed in terms of their density, fire-resistant, fire endurance and smoke, char surface morphology, and flexural toughness. Data disclosed V/HBAIA-2 with the composition of 90% vermiculite reinforced with 10% HBAIA obtained the most prominent outcomes in overall. V/HBAIA-2 attained the lightest density of 37.5 kg/m3 and weight of 0.20 kg, with lowest end temperature of 122 °C after exposure to one-hour of 1000 °C fire. This indicated the best fire-resistant performance in V/HBAIA-2. No structural deformation and only mild smoke and odor were observed in V/HBAIA-2 during the fire endurance examination. V/HBAIA-2 was able to resist the maximum loading force of 67.4 N before and 52.5 N after the fire resistant, with the higher flexural toughness value of 1.47 MPa. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a more uniform, denser, closely connected air cavities char cell quality in V/HBAIA-2 explained its superior outcomes in fire-resistant and flexural toughness as compared to the rest of specimens.