Researchers at Texas A&M University have devised a coating that will limit the flammability of wood.

According to its developers, the environmentally friendly fire retardant coating can reportedly slow the spread of fire on construction materials such as framing and wood studs, thereby allowing residents more time to escape a fire and preventing its spread.

Source: Ethan Iverson/Texas A&M University

To create the coating, the Texas A&M team dipped plywood in an aqueous solution featuring positively charged polymer polyethylenimine (PEI), the monomer hydroxyethyl methacrylate phosphate (HMP) and TPO, which is a known photoinitiator. Following the initial solution dipping, the researchers exposed the coating to ultraviolet (UV) light for a few minutes. According to the team, this enabled the TPO component to turn the HMP into a negatively charged polymer, thereby producing a polyelectrolyte complex with PEI.

Once treated, the coating was just a few micrometer thick and transparent, so as not to alter the appearance of the wood.

During testing, the treated wood reportedly managed to lower the amount of heat the wood released upon burning. Likewise, the treated wood that was set on fire formed a char layer on its surface that protected the wood beneath the layer of char.

In addition to being applied to construction materials, the Texas A&M team believes that the coating can be applied by homeowners to protect fences and barns, textiles, 3D-printed parts and for components used in the aviation and automotive sectors.

For more information on the coating, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of Texas A&M.

A paper on the coating, Polyelectrolyte photopolymer complexes for flame retardant wood, will be presented at ACS Spring 2022, a meeting of the American Chemical Society.