Study of Intumescent Coatings Growth for Fire Retardant Systems in Naval Applications: Experimental Test and Mathematical Model

Abstract

Onboard ships, fire is one of the most dangerous events that can occur. For both military and commercial ships, fire risks are the most worrying; for this reason they have an important impact on the design of the vessel. The intumescent coatings react when heated or in contact with a living flame, and a multi-layered insulating structure grows up, protecting the underlying structure. In this concern, the aim of the paper is to evaluate the intumescent capacity of different composite coatings coupling synergistically modeling and experimental tests. In particular, the experiments have been carried out on a new paint formulation, developed by Colorificio Atria S.r.l., in which the active components are ammonium polyphosphate or pentaerythritol. The specimens were exposed to a gas-torch flame for about 70 s. The degree of thermal insulation of the coating was monitored by means of a thermocouple placed on the back of the sample. In order to get insights into the intumescent mechanism, experimental data was compared with the results of a mathematical model and a good agreement is detected. Furthermore, a predictive model on the swelling rate is addressed. The results highlight that all coatings exhibit a clear intumescent and barrier capacity. The best results were observed for coating enhanced with NH4PO3 where a regular and thick, porous char was formed during exposure to direct flame.

Carbon Nanotube Coatings’ Role in Transparency, Mechanical Hardness, and Wetting Angle Increase

“…Indeed, it should be remarked that other approaches can be applied to form novel coatings in order to protect materials from corrosion, bacterial activity, and solvent impact, etc. Experiments and mathematical models have been shown in recently published papers [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] and have demonstrated their various advantages. However, the LOD technique has certain unique advantage that allows treatment of all types of the materials, such as inorganic crystals, semiconductors, metals, and some high-temperature polyimide structures, etc.…”

The partial fire protection of steel members: a comparative study

“…In addition, it must burn off before it is foamed (Azmi et al. , 2022; Piperopoulos et al. , 2022; Häßler and Hothan, 2022).…”

“…Its other functions can be, for example, protection against surrounding moisture, UV radiation and possible minor mechanical damage (Fan et al, 2022;Lucherini et al, 2023). In addition, it must burn off before it is foamed (Azmi et al, 2022;Piperopoulos et al, 2022;H€ aßler and Hothan, 2022).…”

Intumescent Fireproof Coatings Based on Zeolite‐like Cement Matrices

“…Silicate coatings are known [17,18], which are effective in terms of adhesion to the concrete base, but are characterized by short shelf life and the ability to bloat. The analysis of the publications on intumescent aluminosilicate coatings [19][20][21][22][23] makes it possible to determine their general orientation, which is manifested in the study of the processes of structure formation, revealing the mechanism of bloating, formation of porous structures, etc. However, from their side, there is no data on the development of the compositions of coatings, their protective effectiveness and the ability to prevent the heating of the concrete surface to brittle failure, and the reinforcement to the limit state.…”