Thermal Characteristics of Expandable Graphite–Wood Particle Composites

Abstract

According to the Fire Statistics Yearbook of the National Fire Agency of the Republic of Korea, the total number of fires in 2018 was 42,338, which resulted in 2500 victims and amounted to property damages of approximately 560 billion KRW. The number of fires in buildings where wood was used as a finishing material was 28,013 (66%) in that period. To minimize human and property damage, composite materials were prepared by mixing wood particles with expandable graphite. The physical and thermal properties of the composite materials were investigated. It was observed that the expansion rate increased by 341.7% according to the expandable graphite content. Additionally, the total heat released and the thermal conductivity decreased from 38.63 to 2.5 MJ/m2 and from 24.62 to 7.8 W/m·K. The time to inactivity of white mouse in the smoke toxicity test was 14.9 min and exceeded the toxicity standard for flame retardant performance. The expandable graphite added to composite materials adopted worm-like shapes as a result of combustion, and it formed a fine lattice layer structure with 16–22 μm gaps that could reduce thermal conductivity. In addition, we can minimize the damage to people and property in the event of a fire.