Abstract
Wood is a natural composite widely employed as a residential building interior finishing. Although wood is readily available and offers benefits to the occupants, such as enhanced well-being, it is rarely employed in commercial construction due, amongst others, to the potential hazard of fire propagation. The application of flame retardant (FR) treatments leads to a reduction of wood flammability and supports wood as interior finishing. Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) deposition is an innovative surface treatment that has already proven its efficiency for fabrics. For wood, recent studies have highlighted that the weight gain impacted the fire-retardancy, and a minimum of 2 wt.-% was set to obtain fire protection. This study explored the potential of surface delignification to activate the wood surface and facilitate the PEC impregnation. Yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis, Britt.) was surface delignified (0.3 mm) using sodium chlorite. The treatment impact on wood was evaluated by spectroscopy analysis (FTIR, Raman), and the increase in wood wettability was demonstrated (contact angle decreases from 50° to 35° after the surface delignification). Then, PECs consisting of polyethyleneimine and sodium phytate were surface impregnated in wood and delignified wood. The flame retardancy was evaluated using a cone calorimeter. Despite the increase in weight gain (1.5 wt.-% ± 0.3 wt.-% to 4.3 wt.-% ± 2.5 wt.-%), fire performance was not improved. This study demonstrates that lignin strongly affects char formation, even in the presence of PECs.
Funding source: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Award Identifier / Grant number: PCISA 514,917–16
Award Identifier / Grant number: RDCPJ 500,157–16
Funding source: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Award Identifier / Grant number: Unassigned
Funding source: Université Laval
Award Identifier / Grant number: Unassigned
Acknowledgments
This work is part of the research program of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Canlak Industrial Research Chair in Finishes for Interior wood products (CRIF). The authors are grateful to the NSERC-Canlak Industrial Research Chair in Finishes for Interior wood products (CRIF) Industrial partners for their help and support. The authors would also like to acknowledge collaborators who provided technical support: Yves Bédard, Luc Germain, and Daniel Bourgault from the Renewable Materials Research Center (CRMR – Université Laval). The assistance provided by Julia B. Grenier and Solène Pellerin for the phosphate titration and the thermogravimetric analysis, respectively, was greatly appreciated.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: Conceptualization, Marie Soula, Fabienne Samyn, Sophie Duquesne and Véronic Landry; methodology, Marie Soula, Fabienne Samyn, Sophie Duquesne and Véronic Landry; software, Marie Soula; validation, Marie Soula; formal analysis, Marie Soula; investigation, Marie Soula; writing – original draft preparation, Marie Soula; writing – review and editing, Marie Soula, Fabienne Samyn, Sophie Duquesne, and Véronic Landry; supervision, Fabienne Samyn, Sophie Duquesne, and Véronic Landry; project administration, Fabienne Samyn, Sophie Duquesne, and Véronic Landry; funding acquisition, Véronic Landry. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Competing interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
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Research funding: This work is part of the research program of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Canlak Industrial Research Chair in Finishes for Interior wood products (CRIF) through programs CRD (RDCPJ 500,157–16) and PCI (PCISA 514,917–16).
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Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.
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