Methodological improvement of testing of selected parameters for fire resistance of wood and wood-based materials using the MFT

There are many methods used to determine the reaction to fire of wood and wood-based materials, ranging from full-scale to small-scale testing. One of the small-scale techniques is the use of the Mini Fire Tube (MFT). The aim of this work is to optimize the assessment of fireproofing preparations for wood and wood-based materials using the MFT. In addition, an evaluation was made of the effectiveness of the protection in relation to the maximum temperature of the control sample. An attempt at optimization was made using the example of pine wood and selected flame retardants. Based on the results of control tests, the critical point (the time at which the average sample temperature reached its maximum value) was calculated (Grześkowiak and Moliński 2019). The effectiveness of the protection at the critical point was determined. Efficiencies were calculated for all time parameters to determine the optimal test time. A formula was proposed for the duration of tests for protected samples, taking as a reference the maximum temperature of the control series. The tests showed that it is possible to shorten the time for testing of the effectiveness of flame retardants based on the time taken to obtain maximum temperature for control samples.