Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Intumescent Coatings

A solvent-borne organic intumescent paint and a water-borne inorganic intumescent paint, both are commercially available, were investigated for their thermal characteristics including thermal reactions and weight loss rate as a function of temperature. These were conducted by DSC and TGA thermal analysis techniques. The results indicate that the initial thermal reactions of the water-borne inorganic paint starts earlier and the reactions appear wider range of temperature than the solvent –borne organic intumescent paint. Applying a laser flash method at thermally expanded state, thermal diffusivity of the intumescent paints was measured. With this information, in conjunction with the experimentally acquired specific heat and densities values, theoretical insulation effectiveness, which is expressed as the temperature differences between the surface of the expanded intumescent paints and the backside, was calculated. These calculated values were compared with the experimental values and the incoherence was explained.