The effects of wood-flour on combustion and thermal degradation behaviors of PVC in wood-flour/poly(vinyl chloride) composites

The effects of wood-flour on combustion and thermal degradation behaviors of PVC in wood-flour/poly (vinyl chloride) composites (WF-PVC) were investigated by using cone calorimeter (CONE) and TGA. The results show that thermal degradation behavior of WF-PVC composites has obvious characteristics of that of PVC. Interactions occur between wood-flour and PVC during the combustion and thermal degradation of WF-PVC composites. The thermal degradation of wood-flour can be accelerated by pure PVC. Moreover, the char formation can be raised by adding wood-flour to PVC. Compared with PVC at all flaming stage, when heat flux is kept at 50 kW m⁻², the average heat release rate (av-HRR), the total heat release (THR), the total smoke production (TSP) and the average specific extinction area (av-SEA) of WF-PVC composites are respectively reduced by 44%, 9.2%, 25.8% and 29.9%. In WF-PVC composites, the wood-flour has remarkable effects on the properties of heat release and smoke release of PVC.