Experimental Study of Oriented Strand Board Ignition by Radiant Heat Fluxes

Wood and composite panel materials represent a substantial part of the fuel in many building fires. The ability of materials to ignite when heated at elevated temperatures depends on many factors, such as the thermal properties of materials, the ignition temperature, critical heat flux and the environment. Oriented strand board (OSB) without any surface treatment in thicknesses of 12, 15 and 18 mm were used as experimental samples. The samples were gradually exposed to a heat flux of 43 to 50 kW.m(−2), with an increase of 1 kW.m(−2). At heat fluxes of 49 kW.m(−2) and 50 kW.m(−2), the ignition times are similar in all OSB thicknesses, in contrast to the ignition times at lower heat fluxes. The influence of the selected factors (thickness and distance from the heat source) was analysed based on the experimentally obtained data of ignition time and weight loss. The experimentally determined value of the heat flux density was 43 kW.m(−2), which represented the critical heat flux. The results show a statistically significant effect of OSB thickness on ignition time.