Improving Fire Resistance of Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) Wood Impregnated with Mixture of Borax and Boric Acid

Abstract

The study was aimed to investigate the effects of mixture of borax and boric acid concentration and different level of pressure on absorption, retention quantity, and fire resistance properties of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). A total of 50 samples of 9 x 19 x 1016 mm (ASTM E 69-02) were taken from mahoganylumber and then air-dried. A total of 45 samples were impregnated with aqueous solutions of borax and boric acid in three different concentrations (5, 7, and 9 %) and at three different pressure levels (5, 7.5, and 10 atm) for 2 hours pressure time, while5 samples were liftedas control. Dried impregnated samples and untreated samples were feeding in flame with lid combustion method refers to ASTM E 69-02. Interestingly, the results showed that borax and boric acid effectively improved the fire resistanceproperties(mass losses, ignition temperature, maximum temperature, and smoke and smolder production)of mahogany wood.Mixtures of borax and boric acid at a concentration level of 9% and pressure of 10 atm arerecommended to obtain the best results compare to the other interactions on combustion properties.

Mechanical properties of samama wood (Antocephalus macrophyllus) after boron and castor bean oil impregnation and heat treatment

“…Boron impregnation has been proven to increase the durability of wood. Compounds frequently used in studies of the mechanical properties of wood are boric acid, borax (Listyanto et al 2020) and disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (Gauss et al 2019). In addition to durability, dimensional stabilization (Demirel et al 2018) and resistance to fire (Lin et al 2020) have also been shown to improve as a result of such treatment.…”

Fire and termite resistance of wood treated with PF6-based ionic liquids

“…However, the properties of wood, e.g., its combustibility, dimensional stability, and biodeterioration must be managed for practical use. To mitigate these disadvantageous characteristics, numerous wood preservatives have been developed.Boric acid, phosphoric acid, and their salts are known to enhance the fire resistance of wood or wood-based materials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . Treatments with colloidal silicate 14,15 or metal oxides via sol-gel processes [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] have also been reported to endow wood-inorganic composites with fire-resistant properties.It has been demonstrated that acetylation and formalization are effective techniques for improving the dimensional stability of wood [26][27][28] .…”

“…Boric acid, phosphoric acid, and their salts are known to enhance the fire resistance of wood or wood-based materials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . Treatments with colloidal silicate 14,15 or metal oxides via sol-gel processes [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] have also been reported to endow wood-inorganic composites with fire-resistant properties.…”