Using Ammonium Chloride and Ammonium Sulphamate to Establish the Effectiveness of Flame Retardants on Mahogany Wood Timber

Abstract

Splints of mahogany wood were immersed in different concentrations of ammonium chloride, ammounium sulphamate and mixture of the two retardants.. The effectiveness of these flame retardants were determined by characterizing treated and untreated mahogany wood splints for ignition time (IT), flame propagation rate (FPR) and afterglow time (AGT). Results obtained indicated that the ignition time increased with increase in concentration whereas, FPR and after-glow time showed reduction with increased concentration for all the retardants. The reason was that the NH Cl liberated gases (NH and HCl) which diluted O 43 2 concentration and also generated free radicals during flaming. Ammonium sulphamate on the other hand produced non-combustible gases that act as O diluent during combustion.