The effect of some wood preservatives on the thermal degradation of Scots pine

Abstract

Wood has been a structural material for many years; however, its ability to burn has limited its use in some applications. This study aims to evaluate the effect of commercial wood preservatives having concentration of 4% on the thermal behavior of Scots pine wood, and compare the fire retardant effectiveness of these preservatives with that of boron compounds. Thermal degradation of treated and untreated wood samples was evaluated by thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermogravimetry (DTG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Thermal behavior of treated wood differed from thermal behavior of untreated wood in terms of a high char yield. Results showed that weight loss of wood reduced while char yield increased in the charring phase of the pyrolysis in the boron containing preservative treated wood accompanying with pyrolysis temperature lowered. The highest char yield was obtained from the samples treated with disodium octaborate tetrahydrate in the all treated groups. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.