Preliminary investigation on the vacuum pressure impregnation performance of flame retardant for larch (Larix kaempferi) depending on grooving type

Due to wood’s susceptibility to fire, it is crucial to treat wood-based materials with flame retardants, especially in construction applications. This study investigated the effectiveness of various grooving types, including transverse, longitudinal, both transverse and longitudinal, and surface grooving, in enhancing the vacuum pressure impregnation of larch wood. The results revealed that transverse grooving provided a slightly greater impregnation advantage than longitudinal grooving. Moreover, exceptional impregnation performance was observed in larch samples subjected to threefold longitudinal, transverse, and surface grooving, exhibiting a remarkable improvement of 215% compared to untreated larch. However, a limitation of this study is that only one wood species and one flame retardant formulation were used. While it is meaningful as a preliminary investigation into the vacuum pressure impregnation performance of flame-retardant wood based on groove processing, further studies using various wood species and flame retardants.