Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Assess the Fire Resistance of Intumescent Coatings by Equivalent Constant Thermal Resistance

  • Published:
Fire Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Intumescent coatings are now the dominant passive fire protection materials used for steel construction. Intumescent coatings will react at high temperatures and the thermal properties of intumescent coatings can not be measured directly by the current standard test methods which are originally designed for the traditional inert fireproofing materials. This paper proposed a simple procedure to assess the fire resistance of intumescent coatings by using the concept of equivalent constant thermal resistance. The procedure is based on the approximate formula for predicting the limiting temperatures of protected steel members subjected to the standard fire. Test data from investigations on both small-scale samples and full-scale steel members are used to calculate the equivalent constant thermal resistance. Using the equivalent constant thermal resistance of intumescent coatings, the calculated steel temperatures agree well with the test data in the range of the limiting temperatures from 400°C to 600°C. The procedure needs no complex computation and is recommended for practical usage. The equivalent constant thermal resistance could be used to quantify the insulation capacity of intumescent coatings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Fire resistance OF steel-framed buildings, 2006 edn. Corus Construction and Industrial (2006)

  2. Bourbigot S, Duquesne S, Leroy JM (1999) Modeling of heat transfer of a polypropylene-based intumescent system during combustion. J Fire Sci 17:42–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Yuan JF (2009) Intumescent coating performance on steel structures under realistic fire conditions. PhD thesis, The University of Manchester

  4. Standard test methos for fire tests of building construction and materials. ASTM E119-00a. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA (2000)

  5. GB/T 9978-1999 (1999) Fire-resistance tests—elements of building construction. Chinese National Code

  6. GB 14907-2002 (2002) Fire resistive coating for steel structure. Chinese National Code

  7. Yuan JF, Wang YC (2008) Prediction of intumescent coating performance under cone calorimeter—a mathematical approach to performance based design. In: Proceedings of the fifth international conference on structures in fire (SiF’08), Singapore, pp 713–724

  8. Koo JH (1998) Thermal characterization of a ceramic intumescent material. Fire Technol 34: 59–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Di Blasi C (2004) Modeling the effects of high radiative heat fluxes on intumescent material decomposition. J Anal Appl Pyrol 71:721--737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bartholmai M, Schriever R, Schartel B (2003) Influence of external heat flux and coating thickness on the thermal insulation properties of two different intumescent coatings using cone calorimeter and numerical analysis. Fire Mater 27:151–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Standard test method for steady-state thermal transmission properties by means of the heat flow meter apparatus. ASTM C518-04. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA (2003)

  12. GB/T 10294-2008 (2008) Thermal insulation—determination of steady-state thermal resistance and related properties—guarded hot plate apparatus. Chinese National Code

  13. Anderson CE, Ketchum DE, Mountain WP (1988) Thermal conductivity of intumescent chars. J Fire Sci 6:390–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Griffin GJ (2009) The modeling of heat transfer across intumescent polymer coatings. J Fire Sci 00:1–29

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gillet M, Autrique L, Perez L (2007) Mathematical model for intumescent coatings growth: application to fire retardant systems evaluation. J Phys D: Appl Phys 40:883–899

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. DD ENV 13381-4 (2002) Test methods for determing the contribution to the fire resistance of structural members—part 4: applied protection to steel members. British Standardrds Institution, London

  17. EN 1993-1-2 (2005) Eurocode 3: design of steel structures. Part 1–2. General rules—structural fire design. British Standard Institution, London

  18. Dai XH, Wang YC, Bailey C (2010) A simple method to predict temperatures in steel joints with partial intumescent coating fire protection. Fire Technol 46:19–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Design manual on the european recommendation for the fire safety of steel structures. European Commission for Constructional Steelwork, Brussels (1985)

  20. China Association for Engineering Construction Standardization (CECS200) (2006) Technical code for fire safety of steel structure in buildings. China Planning Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  21. Zhang C, Li GQ, Wang YC. Sensitivity study on using different formulae for claculating the temperature of insulated steel members in natural fires. Fire Technol. doi:10.1007/s10694-011-0225-x

  22. Li GQ, Zhang C (2010) Thermal response to fire of uniformly insulated steel members: background and verification of the formulation reccomended by chinese code CECS200. Adv Steel Constr 6(2):788–802

    Google Scholar 

  23. EN 1991-1-2 (2002) Eurocode 1: actions on structures. Part 1-2. General actions—actions on structures exposed to fire. British Standards Institution, London

  24. Omrane A, Wang YC, Goransson U, Holmstedt G, Aldn M (2007) Intumescent coating surface temperature measurement in a cone calorimeter using laser-induced phosphorescence. Fire Saf J 42:68–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Staggs JEJ, Phylaktou HN (2008) The effects of emissivity on the performance of steel in furnace tests. Fire Saf J 43:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Wang LL, Wang YC, Li GQ (2010) Experimental study of aging effects on insulative properties of intumescent coating for steel elements. In: Proceedings of the sixth international conference on structures in fire, MI, USA, pp 735–742

  27. European Organization for Technical Approvals, ETAG018 (2006) Guideline for European Technical Approval of fire protective products. Part 2. Reactive coatings for fire protection of steel elements

Download references

Acknowledgments

The work reported hereinabove is financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China through the project SLDRCE08-A-06, and by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through the contract 50738005. The support is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sate Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, China

    Guo-Qiang Li & Guo-Biao Lou

  2. College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Chao Zhang & Ling-Ling Wang

  3. School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK

    Yong-Chang Wang

Authors
  1. Guo-Qiang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chao Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Guo-Biao Lou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yong-Chang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ling-Ling Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chao Zhang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Li, GQ., Zhang, C., Lou, GB. et al. Assess the Fire Resistance of Intumescent Coatings by Equivalent Constant Thermal Resistance. Fire Technol 48, 529–546 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-011-0243-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-011-0243-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation