DEVELOPMENT OF INORGANIC NANO FILLER REINFORCED INTUMESCENT FIRE RETARDANT COATING FOR STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS

Intumescent fire retardant coating (IFRC) is one of the easiest ways of protecting
structural steel from fire. In present research work, IFRC was developed using
ammonium polyphosphate (APP), expandable graphite (EG), melamine (MEL), boric
acid (BA) and Bisphenol A BE-188 with polyamide amine H-2310 as curing agent.
Three formulations were developed by varying the wt.% of ingredients and control
formulation was determined based on best thermal insulation. Control formulation
was further reinforced with titanium oxide (Ti02), magnesium oxide (MgO) and
alumina (Ah03) as inorganic filler. Different formulations were developed by varying
the wt. % of inorganic filler to study their effect towards char expansion, thermal
insulation, char morphology, char composition and toxicity of gases. Furnace fire test
was conducted at 500°C for 2 h to determine the physical appearance of char and
intumescent factor. Bunsen burner test was conducted for 1h to study the thermal
insulation of coating on structural steel substrate.