Solène Pèllerin, CRIF, Microscope numérique VHX-7000, Keyence

No, you are not looking at a landscape that might remind you of rocky, windswept coastlines. The image at first glance may be misleading. This is a wood sample protected by a flame retardant varnish observed under a microscope magnified 33 times after a cone calorimeter test. This test gives information on fire behaviour of a material by exposing it to a heat source of more than 700 °C. 

The observed islands correspond to protected areas of wood. Varnish and wood degradation due to the heat exposure during the test allowed the formation of a protective layer in some places: the char. In the background, the wood was consumed during the burning process, leaving only a white fibrous structure.  

You are therefore looking at wood islands protected from the flame storm to which it has been exposed.  

Research supervisor : Véronic Landry