Numerical estimation for intumescent thermal protection using one-dimensional IHCP
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abstract
Intumescent coatings are an important group of passive fire protection materials,
representing about one third of steel fire protection costs. This insulating system is
made of four different chemical compounds that can be classified as: a carbonisation
agent, an acid source, a foaming agent and a catalyst. When protecting a steel structure
under fire conditions, the intumescent paint is heated, beginning to melt, to bubble and
to swell, forming a multi-cellular barrier which decreases the heat transfer from the fire
to the substrate. The film behaviour is characterized by an expansion and mass loss,
producing a foam char with a geometry that varies from 5 to 200 times its original
volume. In order to design this type of protection, the intumescence physical and
thermal behaviour must be acknowledged, being the thickness and the effective thermal
conductivity the key parameters during this process.
