Can a tiny amount of bio-protective coating completely change the fire behaviour of mass timber logs? If you asked me that some time ago, I would say it would probably be neutral.

Can a 0.5 x 0.5 m free-standing log of timber smoulder through without any external exposure to fire? If you asked me that some time ago, I would say no, and base that on observations of dozens of logs like this.

Yet, in Australia they’ve burned. And the hypothesis was that it has something to do with the preservative treatment.

My guest today, Wenxuan Wu from The University of Queensland was tasked with researching this problem and showed us the workshop used for this. In this podcast episode, we dive deep into measurements carried out in fire laboratories on the material scale and how use of different methods gradually increases our understanding of the problem. Their pursuit also opened new questsions - for example, why if timber would be subject to a very strong heat flux, the smouldering would not work anymore? This was also answered in the discussion.

If you would like to learn more about Wenxuan’s research, please refer to the published papers:

•  Experimental study on the factors affecting smouldering behaviour of CCA-treated wood
• Deactivation of chromated copper arsenate as a catalyst in smouldering of wood

Also, this talk summarises the best poster at ITB-FRISSBE Summer School. What an event that was. Once again, we would like to thank our sponsors for that!

https://www.itb.pl/2024-summer-school/

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.