Effects of expandable graphite on char morphology and pyrolysis of epoxy based intumescent fire-retardant coating

The current study was designed to investigate the effects of expandable graphite (EG) on fire protection properties of intumescent fire-retardant coating for steel structures. Several formulations of intumescent coating were prepared and tested according to ISO 834 for char expansion. The chars were found without cracks and bonded with the steel substrate. The results showed that the coating slowly degraded during the test and char remained in contact with vertically tested coated substrate. The coated substrates were also tested for weather resistance using humid and ultraviolet environment. The char was characterized by using FESEM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, and XPS analysis. FESEM examined char morphology of the coatings after furnace fire test. XRD and FTIR showed the presence of graphite, borophosphate; boron oxide and sassolite in the char. TGA and DTGA results disclosed that EG improved the residual mass of coating. XPS analysis showed the percentages of carbon and oxygen are 48.50 and 43.45 in char of formulation with 12.8% EG. The results of weathering test coatings showed decreased in char expansion because of a humidity and UV light. The formulation with 9.8% EG showed the maximum char expansion and high residual mass among the formulations investigated in this study. The weathering tested coated samples showed their capability of fire protection.