A Comparative Study of the Fire Properties of Chinese Traditional Timber Structural Components under Different Surface Treatments

Fire is generally recognized as a major threat to the protection of historic timber architecture. Thus, there is an urgent need to study the fire properties of historic timber structures so as to better protect them in the future. Two types of commonly used wood species (pine and poplar) were selected as test specimens and three types of surface treatments (Chinese traditional coating, modern flame retardant, and a combination of the two methods) were applied. The specimens were subjected to a semi-full-scale fire test. The charring rate and the surface heating curve were calculated during the fire test to assess the flammability of various woods under different treatments. Results showed that the fire properties of traditional-coated wood were better than the modern type, but large amounts of smoke were released during combustion. The combination of traditional and modern methods did not significantly improve the overall fire properties and was even worse than the traditional treatment alone. At the same time, the fire properties of the modern method are highly correlated with the type of wood species used. The above results can provide informative advice on the selection of suitable surface treatments for the subsequent restoration of ancient buildings.

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