Optimization оf Effectiveness Evaluation Method for Intumescent Fire Retardant Coating

Abstract

An optimized method for assessing the fire protection efficiency of intumescent coatingshas been proposed, which can be applied during the development and research of new formulationsof fire retardant compositions. To achieve this goal, a critical analysis of existing methods forevaluating the fire protection efficiency of intumescent fire retardant coatings has been conducted,both those approved by regulatory documents and those used by researchers for the fire protectionagents effectiveness rapid assessments. Based on the analysis of the studied methods advantagesand disadvantages, an optimized method for evaluating the intumescent fire-resistant coatingsefficiency has been proposed to reduce the time for preparing and processing experimental results.The proposed optimized method involves the use of an electrical furnace with an insulated testchamber for heat accumulation as a source of thermal radiation, which allows obtainingtemperatures on the reverse side o f the metal plate exceeding 950 °C. As a criterion for fireprotection efficiency, it is proposed to use the comparison of the time to reach the criticaltemperature (500 °C) on the outer side of metal plates protected by fire retardant coatings. Theefficiency of fire protection of the metal plate has been investigated using the proposed method forthree samples of intumescent fire protection agents: a coating based on epoxy oligomer, ammoniumpolyphosphate, aluminum hydroxide, and intercalated graphite, a coating on a styrene-acrylic basisof industrial production, and a well-known coating based on epoxy oligomer filled withmonoammonium phosphate and intercalated graphite. The results of the experiment allowed acomparative assessment of the studied coatings fire protection efficiency. The use of the optimizedmethod significantly simplifies the experiment and reduces the time spent on sample preparationand processing of its results