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Society's need for safe flame‐retardant technologies in passive fire protection is undeniable. To address this concern, this paper presents an experimental investigation of the fire‐retardant properties of slash pine wood treated with banana plant pseudostem sap, obtained from a cultivated banana plant variety widely grown in Brazil. The natural sap extract was characterized through X‐Ray Fluorescence spectrometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy techniques, revealing the presence of key components, including water, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, sodium silicate, calcium phosphate, sodium phosphate, lignin and tannins. The authors explored different treatment parameters, including various sap impregnation times, number of impregnations and use of natural versus various levels of concentrated sap. First, a horizontal burning test, similar test to UL 94 HB, was used to obtain an initial assessment of the suitability of sap as a flame retardant for slash pine wood. Subsequently, the Mass Loss Calorimeter equipment with thermopile attachment described in ISO 13927:2015 was used to measure various heat release rate parameters. The findings suggest that reducing the water content in sap and increasing the number of repeat treatments results in a more effective treatment for slash pine wood. More specifically, the results indicate that the most efficient treatment involves three impregnations with high‐concentration (1/10 volume reduction) sap. Future work to improve the efficacy of the concentrated sap impregnation process could explore the use of pressure treatment instead of soaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio‐based aggregates can be seen as one of the promising alternatives to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings due to their lower carbon footprint and energy efficiency. They have great potential to be incorporated into inorganic matrices and produce insulating materials. However, there is a lack of information about the flammability of these materials. This work presents the results of an experimental investigation of the fire behaviour of bio‐based materials. In this study, wastes of bamboo, wood shavings and rice husk were used and were evaluated for their fire performance in the natural state and after treatment in an alkaline solution. The fire reaction properties were determined by using a Mass Loss Cone Calorimeter in order to obtain the parameters of heat release rate (HRR), total heat released (THR), effective heat of combustion (EHC), total mass loss (TML), ignition time (IT) and time of combustion (TC). In addition, physical characterization and thermogravimetric tests were carried out as well as scanning electron microscopy analyses. The results show that the alkaline treatment of the bio‐based aggregates is able to reduce the average HRR and the EHC of all bio‐aggregates but does not delay the ignition of these materials. Among the residues studied, rice husk presented the lowest peaks and averages of HRR, THR, total mass loss, EHC and time to flameout; however, the ignition occurred faster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents an experimental investigation of alumina trihydrate (ATH) in glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRP), aiming to determine the influence of ATH concentration on improved flame‐retardant properties. For this research, different concentrations of ATH: 37 phr (parts per hundred resin), 40, 47.5, 50 and 55 phr, were added in isophthalic polyester matrix composites reinforced with E‐glass fibre through a pultrusion process. These composites were tested for flammability and flame propagation using the mass loss calorimeter cone (MLCC), limiting oxygen index (LOI) and glow wire tests. Simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was performed to evaluate the thermal stability and enthalpy. These analyses assessed the effectiveness and influence of each ATH concentration. It was observed in the MLCC tests that the ATH concentration of 40 phr reduced the peak heat release rate (PHRR) by 27% compared to a composite with 37 phr. All specimens showed the desired commercial result for wires and cables in the glow wire test since the composites reached the maximum glow wire flammability index (GWFI) of 960 °C and a glow wire ignition temperature (GWIT) above 900 °C. Thus, the addition of ATH above 40 phr leads to an improvement in the flame‐retardant properties of glass fibre reinforced polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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