Abstract

The plasma aided flame retardation of wood, wooden products and cellulosic fibrous materials has been conceived and developed as a result of plasma aided process of capillary impregnation with nitrogen- and phosphorous containing water solution. The surface pre-treatment in non-thermal equilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma substantially alters its electrical, chemical and capillary activity, thus improving some basic characteristics, such as penetration depth, water solution spreading and wicking, liquid adsorption capacity. This study has been developed as part of a large investigation on plasma-chemically activated wood surface and its capillary impregnation with nitrogen- and phosphor flame retardant containing water solution. It has been used to reveal and illustrate the impact of some ionic and silicon surfactant. The experimental studies of some chemical, ion and capillary activity changes of three species of rain-forest Mexican heart wood surfaces using selected surfactants and spreaders show that they have substantial contribution to the effective plasma-aided capillary impregnation processes.