Optimization of Effectiveness Evaluation Method for Intumescent Fire Retardant Coating of Effectiveness Evaluation Method for Intumescent Fire Retardant Coating

Abstract

An optimized method for assessing the fire protection efficiency of intumescent coatings has been proposed, which can be applied during the development and research of new formulations of fire retardant compositions. To achieve this goal, a critical analysis of existing methods for evaluating 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 protection agents effectiveness rapid assessments. Based on the analysis of the studied methods advantages and disadvantages, an optimized method for evaluating the intumescent fire-resistant coatings efficiency 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 test chamber for heat accumulation as a source of thermal radiation, which allows obtaining temperatures on the reverse side of the metal plate exceeding 950 °C. As a criterion for fire protection efficiency, it is proposed to use the comparison of the time to reach the critical temperature (500 °C) on the outer side of metal plates protected by fire retardant coatings. The efficiency of fire protection of the metal plate has been investigated using the proposed method for three samples of intumescent fire protection agents: a coating based on epoxy oligomer, ammonium polyphosphate, aluminum hydroxide, and intercalated graphite, a coating on a styrene-acrylic basis of industrial production, and a well-known coating based on epoxy oligomer filled with monoammonium phosphate and intercalated graphite. The results of the experiment allowed a comparative assessment of the studied coatings fire protection efficiency. The use of the optimized method significantly simplifies the experiment and reduces the time spent on sample preparation and processing of its results.