Development and optimization of fire-protective coating composition based on epoxypolymers

Abstract

The object of research is intumescent fire retardant coatings based on epoxy resins. The research is aimed at the development of mathematical models of the dependence of the swelling rate of intumescent fire retardant coatings on their composition. Considering the complexity of the processes during the formation of a protective carbon layer, it is advisable to select the optimal ratio of the components of an intumescent fire retardant coating experimentally, followed by the construction of mathematical dependences of the swelling ratio on the coating composition. Therefore, experimental studies aimed at developing and optimizing the composition of an intumescent fire retardant coating based on epoxy polymers are an important task. The studies were carried out in accordance with the theory of planning experiments with the construction of an orthogonal compositional plan of the second order. A linear swelling factor was chosen as the response function. Compositions based on the ED-20 epoxy oligomer, cured with polyethylene polyamine and filled with ammonium polyphosphate, aluminum hydroxide, and graphite additive were used for the study. Based on the results of processing the experimental results, a regression equation was obtained and response surfaces were constructed that describe the dependence of the linear swelling coefficient Cs of an intumescent composition based on an epoxy oligomer on the content of ammonium polyphosphate, aluminum hydroxide and graphite additive. A complex relationship is shown between the content of components and the linear swelling coefficient Cs with different ratios of the components. The optimum by the linear swelling coefficient (Cs=68.1) content of the components in the epoxy polymer was determined, amounting to 20 wt. including for ammonium polyphosphate, 15 mass parts including for aluminum hydroxide and 3 mass parts for the graphite additive. However, with such a ratio, the «self-extinguishing» condition is not met (Cs=27 %). Filling the composition with ammonium polyphosphate in an amount of 26.3 mass parts including, aluminum hydroxide 25 mass parts and 3.5 mass parts including graphite additives allows to get an intumescent fire retardant coating with a swelling ratio Cs over 63 and a reduced level of flammability (Ci=31 %)