Fire-Resistant Properties of Modified Epoxy Based Intumescent Fire-Retardant Coating: Hybridizing of Oyster Shell Powder with Glass Frit

Fire retardant coatings play vital role in safety of construction nowadays, to delay the fire propagation and provide more time for evacuation. The current research work aimed to study the use of modified siloxane epoxy binder to develop intumescent coating. Polyamide amine was used as a hardener. Three different sets of formulations were developed by using three different fillers, namely the oyster shell powder (OSP), glass frit (GF) and combination of both oyster shell powder and glass frit (OG). All three set of formulation also includes the basic ingredients of intumescent coating. These samples were used to study the synergistic effects of fillers on thermal performance of the coating as well tested for char expansion, heat shielding, char morphology and composition. Fire resistant testing was conducted by using a Bunsen Burner and GF samples had found to have minimum substrate temperature of 175.3°C. The char morphology was analysed via Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which confirmed the adhesion between the matrix with fillers. Furnace test was carried out to investigate the char expansion of OSP/GF/OG with the modified siloxane epoxy composition and the maximum expansion was OSP 1% with intumescent factor of 7.78. XRD was conducted to evaluate the residual compounds in the char and FTIR was utilized to analyse the functional group where O-H, C-N, O=C=O and C=C bonds were found in the degradation compounds in the char residual of the coatings.