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

• Main Author: A/L Harbinder Singh, Harnamdav Singh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2011
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/6740/1/2011%20Bachelor%20-%20Study%20On%20Char%20Expasion%20And%20Heat%20Shielding%20Of%20Intumescent%20Coating%20Based%20On%20Inorgan.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/6740/

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.