Effect of Density on Flame Characteristics of Some Tropical Timbers

Abstract

Timber has always played an influencing role in the lives of humans. At high temperature and in the presence of air, it burns or decomposes exothermically. The flame characteristics studied were the ignition time, flame duration, flame propagation rate and after-glow time. Wet and oven-dry densities, moisture content and porosity index of these timbers were also measured. The oven-dry density range was 0.256 0.008 g/cm 3 to 1.111 0.039 g/cm 3 in which most of the timbers were of medium density (0.400-0.750 g/cm 3). Most of the timbers can be described as being fire-tolerant since they have flame propagation rate values below 0.28cm/s. There was somewhat direct relationship between oven-dry density and ignition time, flame duration and afterglow time of these timbers, while an inverse trend exists with flame propagation rate. The use of alternative hardwoods with high density is recommended with its attendant flame characteristics.