In this graduation thesis, we fabricated a lightweight structural panel system withenhanced fire resistance. The objective was to determine the optimum amount offlame retardant with minimal negative effects on the strength properties. Since themain objective was to produce a lightweightstructural panel system, we decided touse a sandwich composite material with an outer layer (particle board) and aninsulating core layer (made of straw). As a flame retardant we use Melamid 50,which was added in proportions of 5, 10, 20 and 30% (based on the mass of thewood/straw). After manufacturing, we performed mechanical and fire resistancetests. Based on these results, we then manufactured a lightweight panel systembased on the optimal composition of the outer and core layer panels. The optimalamount of Melamid 50, based on fire resistance, bond quality and thermalconductivity, was 20% for the face layers and 10% for the core layer. A lowflammability rate and good mechanical properties were found for the compositethus composed.
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