Cone calorimeter evaluates the high-temperature thermal performance of four types of fire protection materials: expansion coatings and boards exhibit different performances

Experimental Design and Testing Materials In construction engineering, passive fire protection is commonly used to delay the degradation of mechanical properties of bare steel due to high temperatures. The fire resistance performance of fire protection materials is influenced by various factors such as microstructure, chemical composition, and input heat flux. Modern standards allow for the use of performance-based methods to evaluate structural fire behavior, provided that the thermophysical behavior of all materials, including fire protection, at high temperatures is reliably characterized. To this end, researchers conducted an experimental parameter study using a cone calorimeter to test the protective performance of four types of fire protection materials: gypsum board, cement board, lightweight gypsum based sprayed fireproof material (SFRM), and water-based expansion coating.

Correlation between test results and microscopic mechanisms

The study obtained evidence through cone calorimeter experiments and interpreted it based on high-temperature chemical physical response analysis at the microscopic scale, thus establishing a reasonable correlation between macroscopic effective thermal conductivity and microscopic material evolution.

. The results show that for cement boards and gypsum boards, as well as expansion coatings beyond activation temperature, the study seems to support the use of thermal conductivity that is independent of the scenario. However, this conclusion does not apply to the behavior observed in spray type gypsum (SFRM).

Significance for the polymer additive industry

Although this study did not directly involve polymer additives, its characterization method for high-temperature thermal performance of fire protection materials has reference value for the evaluation of flame retardant, insulation, and sealing materials in the fields of construction and home decoration.

. In building materials such as PVC profiles, architectural coatings, and sealants, both weather stability and flame retardancy depend on the additive systems such as antioxidants and light stabilizers in the formulation. The discovery of the independent thermal conductivity of expansion type coatings after activation temperature in the study suggests that when developing coatings or sealants containing expansion flame retardant systems, attention should be paid to the consistency of thermal behavior after the activation of additives. Meanwhile, the scene dependence exhibited by SFRM suggests that different substrates and microstructures may lead to differences in material high-temperature response, which poses more detailed requirements for the design and testing of building fire protection materials. For outdoor building materials that require long-term weather resistance and stability, such as PVC profiles and waterproof coatings, the selection of antioxidants and light stabilizers should be comprehensively considered based on the thermal and physical properties of the materials in actual fire or high temperature exposure scenarios, rather than relying solely on single standard condition data. Overall, this study provides experimental evidence for the thermal performance characterization of fire protection materials and reminds building material developers to pay attention to the synergistic effect of additive systems and substrate microstructures on high-temperature performance in formulation design.

Information source:Thermal Performance of Reactive and Non‐Reactive Fire Protective Materials Under Non‐Standard Heating Regimes: An Experimental Parametric Study， Organized by Herun Chemical.