STUDY ON CHAR EXPANSION AND HEAT SIDELDING OF INTUMESCENT COATING BASED ON INORGANIC FILLERS

Fire Accidents are constant threat to man and materials. When a fire occurs it takes a
long time from hours to days to put it off depending on the burning material and other
circumstances. This can be reduced in term of risks with the help of findings on
Intumescent coating. Traditional fire retardants are not very effective especially when
there is a huge breakout of fires in plants and platforms. These traditional fire retardants
also contain halogen and releases toxic vapours thus leading to a severe threat to life and
environment. By contrast, intumescent coatings are relatively thin-film products that
expand rapidly in a fire to insulate the steel. They come in various formulas that include
a mixture of binders and acids that react uuder temperature to expand up to many times
the original thickness of the film, creating a char that insulates the steel. In general, steel
loses half its strength at I, I 00 °F and begins to degrade as well as starts to loose its
properties. Consequently leads us to the aim of this project which is to study the details
of the expansion of char and heat shielding performance with respect to two main
inorganic fillers, (Fume Silica & Aluminium Tri-Hydrate ). In addition, researcher will
develop an intumescent coating formulation with inorganic fillers to get the optimal
performance for char expansion and heat shielding performance. Studies will focus
mainly on the expansion of char that is influenced by inorganic fillers. Firstly, an
Intumescent coating is to be made by the provided formula. Expandable graphite is to be
grinded and sieved into various sizes. Inorganic fillers (Fume Silica and Aluminium Trihydrate)
are also added .as part of the mixture for the Intumescent coating. There are also
other additives involve in developing the coating such as, Melamine, APP, Epoxy
(Bisphenol A), Boric Acid, ACR Polyamide Hardener, etc. Once the coating had been
completed, it is than applied onto steel plates and left cured uuder room temperature.
The experiment is further carried out by heating the Intumescent coating using Buusen
burner to a certain temperature. Expansion of char is to be thoroughly observed as well
as also the performance of heat shielding. Results obtained are discussed and further
studied.