Abstract
As a potential building material, fast-growing wood (such as poplar) is prone to easy combustion and having poor mechanical properties, which limit its application range. In order to improve the reinforcing effect of SiO2 on poplar wood, we propose a method of immersing silica sol into wood smoothly. In this method, the sol and a non-ionic surfactant are first treated via organic–inorganic hybridization. This surfactant has a strong penetration effect, and the sol is introduced into the wood through hybridization. By impregnating the wood, the flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity increased by 79.7% and 89.5%, and the compressive strength along the grain increased by 105.1%. The treated wood also showed flame retardation, reducing the heat release rate (HRR), carbon dioxide yield (CO2Y), total heat release (THR), specific extinction area (SEA) and total smoke release (TSR), with delaying ignition and burn-through time. This method incorporates silica sol in wood via physical filling and chemical bonding, thereby improving the mechanical and flame retardation properties of wood as an outdoor building material.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the financial supports from financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32260361) and National Natural Science Foundation of China Major Program (Grant No. 31890771), Guizhou Science and Technology Supporting Plan [Grant No. 2021:334] and [Grant No. 2021:186]. Guizhou forestry research project [Grant No. 2019:5] and [Grant No. 2022:14].
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SY and ZL wrote the main manuscript text, ZL and ZW prepared figures 1–8. All authors reviewed the manuscript. ZL and SY contributed equally to this work.
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Yang, S., Liu, Z., Wang, Z. et al. Organic–inorganic hybrid of silica sol to promote flame retardant and mechanical properties of wood. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 81, 1313–1325 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-023-01944-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-023-01944-5