The use of particleboards for the manufacture of furniture is very common, but they are used less often for structural purposes. One of the reasons is the poor fire safety of particleboards, which can be improved using fire retardants. However, their addition often has a negative impact on the boards' mechanical properties, and using formaldehyde-based adhesives increases emissions during a fire. The objective was to investigate the efficacy of citric acid and sorbitol as an adhesive and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate as a fire retardant. The properties measured were fire retardancy, MOR, MOE, IB and moisture resistance. In several steps we tried manufacturing a board with the best fire retardant properties with as little deterioration of strength as possible. The properties improved with a higher proportion of binder, while the size of the particles did not play a significant role. The addition of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate improved moisture resistance but had a negative effect on mechanical properties. The optimal proportion of fire retardant was 5 wt%. In the hot plate test a greater mass loss was recorded in samples with added ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, presumably due to its decomposition at elevated temperature. The resulting products seemed to protect boards when exposed to flame impingement on the sample's edge.
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