Effect of expandable graphite on polyester resin-based intumescent flame retardant coating

• Published in: Progress in organic coatings 2019-07, Vol.132, p.178-183
• Main Authors: Wang, YaChao, Zhao, JiangPing, Xiaojing, Meng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coating; Coating effects; Cone calorimeter; Cone calorimeters; Flame retardants; Graphite; Heat release rate; Intumescent flame retardant; Performance indices; Polyester resins; Polyesters
• ISSN: 0300-9440; 1873-331X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.porgcoat.2019.03.050

[Display omitted] •The higher of expansion rate facilitates an enhanced flame retardancy.•FGI of 0.012 kW·m−2·s-1 is detected for sample with an expansion rate of 425 mL·g-1.•The barrier effect of EG prevails the “popcorn effect”. With the thirst for preparing expandable graphite (EG) modified polyester resin-based intumescent flame retardant coating, the effect of expansion rate of EG on flame retardancy is preliminarily studied by techniques including cone calorimeter (CC) and SEM. The results show that the higher of expansion rate facilitates an enhanced flame retardancy due to its barrier effect, the 5 wt% loading of EG with a particle size of 80 mesh and expansion rate of 425 mL·g−1 imparts dramatically decreased heat release rate, evidenced by the lowest fire growth index (FGI) of 0.012 kW·m-2·s-1 and the highest fire performance index (FPI) of 70.642 s·m2 kW-1 among all samples. Meanwhile, the barrier effect of EG prevails the “popcorn effect”, which causes some holes left on the residual char layer. It determines that the incorporation of EG in polyester resin-based coating is an effective approach to enhance its flame retardancy.