Utilizing Philippine Cupped Oyster (Crassostrea iredalei) Shell Powder and Waterborne Acrylic Resin as a Fire Retardant Coating for Marine Wood

In the Philippines, fire outbreaks are one of the pre-eminent types of disaster that are involved in multiple human casualties annually. Velasco (2013) reports that fires are the most costly preventable emergencies in the Philippines but are relatively unstudied. The study seeks to alleviate the occurrence of fire-related disasters by evaluating the capacity of the local aquatic species, Crassostrea iredalei (Philippine Cupped Oyster Shells) as composites in the fabrication of a fire retardant coating. The use of oyster shell was taken into consideration, because the material contains approximately 95-98% of calcium carbonate - a material that is recognized to be incombustible (Shah et al., 2014). The research was conducted through the UL 94 vertical flame testing procedure (Ul Standards, 2013). The effectiveness of the synthesized coating was established in terms of their time of burning. The fire retardant coating was fabricated by forming a mixture of the oyster shell powder and the waterborne acrylic resin of different percent mass/volume composition. Brushing method of application was used in applying the coating samples to the wood surface. The gathered mean burning time of the experimental set-ups were 22.67 minutes (25% m/v), 25.00 (50% m/v) and 29.67 minutes (75% m/v); while the wood applied with the resin was recorded in 18.00 minutes. The obtained Pearson value of the experimental set-ups of different percent composition was 0.980306. Using the statistical tests: T-test for two sample means, ANOVA Single Factor, and Pearson Correlation, it was revealed that there was a significant difference in the burning time of the oyster shell-based coating and the waterborne acrylic resin. Furthermore, it was discovered that there may have been a direct correlation between the percent composition of the oyster shell composite and the time of burning of the material. The findings of this study suggest that the material may be potentially used for fireproofing due to the improved thermal degradation of the samples. The researchers further recommend that other factors such as: air moisture, surface material and the angle of ignition that may affect the proliferation of fire be considered to obtain optimum efficiency.