EFFECT OF FIRE RETARDANT ON FIRE PERFORMANCE OF PARTICLE BOARDS PRODUCED FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTES

The feasibility of applying flame retardants usually used to improve fire behavior of pressed wood was evaluated in the present study for the production of fire-retardant particleboard panels. Corn stalks and Peanut shells as a raw material were used for producing particleboards. Boric acid as a fire retardant was mixed with the used raw materials for producing fire retardant particleboards. Experiments were conducted to study some different operating parameters (particleboard thickness and fire retardant percentage) affecting the fire retardant particleboard production. The produced particleboard samples were evaluated in terms of time to ignition, charring depth, char index and charring rate. The experimental results revealed that time to ignition (245 and 220 min), charring depth (2.68 and 3.80 mm), char index (7.56 and 10.11 %) and charring rate (0.66 and 1.04 mm/h) of the produced fire retardant particleboards from corn stalks and Peanut shells, respectively. These results were in the case of using 16 % fire retardant percentage with acceptable particleboard thickness of 22 mm.