Studies of structural properties of char from intumescent coating

Intumescent coating system cannot insulate and protect the material effectively if it’s char weak in mechanical strength. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of additional micro filler which is alumina (Al2O3) as reinforcement to epoxy based coating’s char strength. Different wt. (%) of formulation was developed in the experiment. The coated sample was put in the furnace test machine and the test was conducted at 500ºC at 1 hour period in order to determine the physical property of the char. The microstructures of the char were examined through Scanning Electron Microscopy Analysis (SEM). The residual weight and degradation temperature of the chars were determined by Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The thermal performance of the coatings were tested through fire testing process (Bunsen Fire Test).In this test, the coated sample of 10cm x 10cm were burned to high temperature and backside temperature of the substrates were recorded using a Data Logger. For mechanical testing (compression test), the chars’ strength were determined by examined the ability of the char to resist deformation. In the compression test, mass from 100g to 3600g was continuously added on top of the char and the height of the char was recorded while leaving the load for one minute