HEAT RELEASE RATE OF WOOD-PLASTIC COMPOSITES

Wood-plastic composites are becoming more important as a material that fulfills recycling needs. In this study, fire performance tests were conducted on several compositions of wood and plastic materials using the Ohio State University rate of heat release apparatus. Test results included five-minute average heat release rate in kW/m(2) (HRR avg) a nd maximum heat release rate in kW/m(2) (HRR max). As expected, the ge neral trend was an increase in the values of HRR avg and HRR max with increasing concentrations of polypropylene or high density polyethylen e.