soufa is a boric acid flame retardant. Boric acid originally has a property that it is hardly soluble in water, but it is a substance that is easily soluble in water by special technology of soufa. Therefore, it is considered to be compatible with water-based paints.
Water-based flame retardants do not exist very much, and attention has been paid only to compatibility with solvent systems, but there are also flows of non-halo, non-phosphorous, and non-heavy metals, and water-based flame retardants are attracting attention in the future.
soufa has the property of being soluble in water and is shipped as an aqueous solution or powder type. It is thought that flame retardancy can be given to water-based paint.
When the base material used is wood, it has great potential because it can also provide termite and antiseptic performance, and it has good compatibility with cellulose and its application to wood coatings is good.
Boric acid-based flame retardants have not existed on the market until now, and some are distributed for termite control. However, the boric acid used in these is disodium octaborate tetrahydrate, and its solubility in water is not so high. Therefore, when stabilizing at a high concentration, it is necessary to mix a stabilizer or the like, and it is difficult to handle.
According to a survey report, if the concentration is about 12%, it will be stable at room temperature. On the other hand, soufa can be stably stored at room temperature at 16%, and even at 23% concentration, it is stable without precipitation if there is an environment that can be stored at about 20 ° C.
In the case of 8 boric acid, I have heard that it is actually difficult to keep at 12%.
Since soufa does not create a coating on the surface, it can be applied to wood without impairing the texture of the material.