Claims
- 1. A method of forming a fire-retardant wood-based composite, comprising the steps of:
A. providing a green wood furnish; B. treating the green wood furnish with an amount of a phosphate/borate fire retardant treatment effective to increase the fire retardancy of the resulting wood-based composite, compared to the fire retardancy of the corresponding wood-based composite lacking the fire retardant; C. optionally, drying the treated green wood furnish to a moisture content suitable for fabrication of the wood-based composite; D. blending the treated green wood furnish with a binder; and E. binding the green wood furnish with said binder to form a fire-retardant wood based composite.
- 2. A product formed according to the process of claim 1.
- 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, during or after said fire retardant treatment, applying a water repellant material to said green wood furnish to form treated wood particles.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said fire retardant treatment and said water repellant are applied from a single emulsion.
- 5. The method of claim 3, wherein said water repellant material is a paraffinic wax.
- 6. The method of claim 3, wherein said water repellant is slack wax.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said green wood furnish comprises aspen flakes.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said green wood furnish has a moisture content of from about 60% to about 100%, based on dry wood weight, just before said fire retardant applying step.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said phosphate is an inorganic phosphate.
- 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said fire retardant treatment is applied from an aqueous dispersion.
- 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said binder is a phenolic resin.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said binder is a urea-formaldehyde resin.
- 13. The method of claim 1, wherein said binder is a catalyst-curable phenol-melamine-formaldehyde resin.
- 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said fire retardant treatment is present in an amount effective to at least partially catalyze the cure of said binder.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Priority is claimed from provisional applications U.S. Ser. No. 60/274,875, filed Mar. 9, 2001, and U.S. Ser. No. 60/242,505, filed Oct. 23, 2000, now pending.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60274875 |
Mar 2001 |
US |
|
60242505 |
Oct 2000 |
US |