Evaluation of effectiveness of wood fire protection upon exposure to flame of magnesium

Abstract

An analysis of unforeseen fires and explosions at ammunition storage sites was conducted and it was found that one of the biggest risks is their fire hazard as storage of such products is realized using wood, both in building construction and packaging products, and necessity of efficient fire retardant treatment was established. To determine efficiency when developing fire retardant coatings studies were conducted for the determination of the combustibility group of wood in terms of weight loss and raise of the flue gas temperature, and it was found that when treating of wood with coatings, the mass loss did not exceed 5 % and the temperature did not exceed 260 °C. The results of the determination of the efficiency of fire retardant treatment of wood with geocement and organicmineral coatings showed that the material burn-out and structural failure did not occur when exposed to high-temperature flame. Studies to determine the quality of the fire retardant treatment of wood with a coating have shown that the rate of wood charring in case of untreated sample was 2 mm/min, and in case of samples treated with fire retardant agents it did not exceed 0.5 mm/min which allowed us to conclude as to feasibility of the use of fire retardants based on inorganic and organic binding materials for the treatment of wooden structures. To assess the effectiveness of the fire retardant treatment of structures made of wood, the duration of magnesium flame impingement on the surface of the flame of wood treated with fire retardant agents was studied, and it was found that the sample treated with organic-mineral protective coating prevented impact of high temperature and rate of wood charring more efficiently due to the creation of the swollen coke layer than coatings based on inorganic compounds, the mechanism of action of which was aimed at heat isolation.