Recent developments of intumescent fire protection coatings for structural steel: A review

Abstract

Intumescent paints are specially formulated reactive coatings designed to swell or expand into thick foamed char upon exposure to heat, protecting the substrates against fire by insulation and providing a protective barrier to heat and mass transfer. The present review describes some recent work related to the development of intumescent fire protective coating that is suitable for the protection of non-flammable substrates, such as structural steel, against fire. The key factors in the intumescent formulations, binders, flame retardants, fillers, modifiers, nano-dimensional additives, and weathering that affect the properties and performance of intumescent coatings are described. An attempt has also been made to describe different fire protection methods and testing characterizations involved in the fire protection of structural steel using intumescent fire-resistant coatings.