An investigation into fire protection and water resistance of intumescent nano-coatings

The objective of the paper is to develop nano-coatings that can provide good fire protection for the underlying substrate. The thermal degradation and fire resistance of nano-coatings have been investigated by differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetry (TG) and fire performance test. It is illustrated that nano-coatings can give an excellent fire resistance. The dispersion state and bonding of nano-SiO2 particles are characterized by the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Water immersion test, fire performance test and mechanical test reveal that sodium silicate coating is vulnerable to water and hence fire resistance is severely damaged by water immersion, whereas nano-coatings demonstrate good water resistance and fire resistance even after water immersion.