Reaction to fire properties of wood waste-based geopolymers panels

Wood waste, possibly originating from deconstruction of buildings is processed to obtain fine fractions which are further embedded into innovative high performance prefabricated geopolymeric panel, intended to be used as façade panels or internal lining. For these uses reaction to fire (RtF) is one of the most important characteristics. Inside the EU InnoWEE project (Innovative pre-fabricated components including different waste construction materials reducing building energy and minimising environmental impacts) this aspect is studied on the innovative panels. As the material's basis is inorganic there is a possibility of compliance to high demanding reaction to fire classes (non-combustible materials). Furthermore as there are different variants of the material that may also include CDW wood chips, it is important to understand how the variable content of wood chips influences critical parameters for the RtF. Different variants of CDW geopolymers based panels were assessed with respect to the reaction to fire, using cone calorimeter. Results have shown that CDW panels containing 20% of wood comply to the A2 class and are suitable for all uses, with respect to fire. Higher wood content (maximum 50% of wood chips) yields hardly combustible materials.