Study of intumescent coatings in operation using x-ray phase and thermal analysis and IR spectroscopy

Abstract

The problem of increasing the fire resistance of buildings and structures is still relevant. Nowadays, fireproof intumescent and other materials with a limited service life are used to ensure fire safety of infrastructure and social facilities. Among these, fire-proofing of metal structures is one of the vital problems. The results of studying samples of fire-retardant intumescent coatings based on ammonium polyphosphate-melamine-pentaerythritol and subjected to artificial climatic aging (3, 6, and 9 years) and thermal exposure (heating to 300 and 500°C) are presented. The methods of X-ray diffraction and thermal analyzes, optical and IR spectroscopy are used to study the phase and structural composition of materials. It was found that the intumescence of the samples significantly decreases during service life of the coating. This leads to a decrease in the fire resistance of the protected object. Moreover, a sharp change in the phase composition of materials occurs as a result of aging and heating, accompanied by a decrease in the degree of crystallinity. Since the composition of fire-retardant coatings plays a key role in ensuring the fire safety of buildings and structures, the results of the study can be used for timely detection of violations in the quality of coatings and forecasting their service life.