Improvement of fire performance of impregnated wood with copper based chemicals

Abstract

Copper is among the most commonly used substances in impregnating industry due to its high toxicity against fungi at last 50 years. Copper-azole (CuA) and ammonical copper quaternary (ACQ) are the most widely used, because it is highly effective against fungi and insects. However, their fire resistance properties are not good. The aim of this work is to examine and improve the resistance of CuA and ACQ against fire. For this purpose CuA and ACQ were prepared with 2.4% solution by Firetex. These prepared solutions were impregnated with the full cell method. According to Mini Fire Tube (MFT) test results, 99,99% weight loss was observed in the control samples, while 17,15% and 16,63% weight loss were observed in CuA and ACQ prepared with FireTex, respectively. CuA impregnated samples maximum temperature increased to 479.88 ºC, while the maximum temperature in the solution CuA with firetex was 97.78 ºC.