CeO2-dolomite as fire retardant additives on the conventional intumescent coating in steel substrate for improved performance

Abstract

Multiple combinations of CeO2-Dolomite as fillers and Intumescent Flame Retardant (IFR) ingredients were used to optimize the intumescent coatings designed for I-beam steel substrates. The influenced of fillers and various combinations of flame-retardants on the fire protective performance of the coatings were evaluated using vertical Bunsen burner fire test and various characterization techniques. Formula C and Formula F having 1:1 and 2:2 CeO2-Dolomite ratio, obtained the lowest substrate temperature around 150oC and 150.4oC, respectively after 90 minutes fire exposure. Also, the morphological structures of intumescent char observed by SEM-EDX, demonstrated that Formula C and Formula F stimulated the formation of homogeneous and more compacted surface structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) provide the binding energies of C and O constituents, it was observed that [-(C2H4)n-] was the most important free radical as it could promote the formation of aromatic carbon chain in the char surface. Finally, the findings of this study revealed that the selection of appropriate fillers and combinations of flame-retardant ingredients significantly influenced the morphological structure of the char layer, of which, Formula C and Formula F produced a char with higher thermal stability, resulting to a more fire resistive IFR coating during fire exposure.