A Strong, Tough and Fire-Retardant Biomimetic Multifunctional Wooden Laminate

Xiaoshuai Han; Xiaoyi Wang; Wei Tian; Yuli Wang; Jiangbo Wang; Frank Lam; Shaohua Jiang

doi:10.3390/polym15204063

A Strong, Tough and Fire-Retardant Biomimetic Multifunctional Wooden Laminate

Polymers (Basel). 2023 Oct 12;15(20):4063. doi: 10.3390/polym15204063.

Authors

Xiaoshuai Han¹, Xiaoyi Wang¹, Wei Tian¹, Yuli Wang¹, Jiangbo Wang², Frank Lam³, Shaohua Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
² School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China.
³ Department of Wood Science, The University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.

Abstract

Mildly delignified wood showed a well-preserved wood cell wall framework, and its derived compressed materials demonstrate excellent mechanical properties and advanced functional material potential. Here, we proposed a simple yet effective approach for making strong, tough, and fire-retardant wooden laminate by a three-step process of mild delignification, infiltrating potassium nonafluoro-1-butanesulfonate (PFBS), and hot-pressing to densify the material. PFBS can be infiltrated into the micro/nano-structures of the mildly delignified wood to achieve a good flame-resistant protective barrier. Flame retardant tests showed that this strong, tough, and fire-retardant wooden laminate has a superior flame-retardant performance to natural wood. Additionally, the wooden laminate also exhibits a simultaneously enhanced tensile strength (175.6 MPa vs. 89.9 MPa for natural wood) and toughness (22.9 MJ m^-3vs. 10.9 MJ m^-3 for natural wood). Given these attributes, the resulting wooden laminates are identified as promising candidates for high-performance structural applications, fulfilling stringent requirements for both mechanical resilience and flame-retardant efficacy.

Keywords: biomimetic; fire-retardant; mechanical performance; wood.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Chunhui Research Grant [HZKY20220168, 202201269], Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.