Development and characterization of advanced intumescent coatings for enhanced fire-resistance protection of structural steel

Quantum Technical Services Ltd.是加拿大领先的钢结构建筑防火涂料制造商之一。这些涂料被用作被动防火系统，并有助于在建筑物火灾期间延迟钢框架的温度上升。SafeCoat TFI是最有前途的产品之一，它是一种薄膜膨胀型涂料，遇火膨胀成约2”厚的绝缘泡沫炭。这种泡沫涂层变得高度多孔和隔热，并立即保护钢基材免受火灾。 尽管涂层在现场测试中的性能得到了证明，但其作为温度函数的行为仍然不清楚。例如，炭形成的动力学以及炭在不同温度下的化学和物理性质仍然未知。因此，昆腾和不列颠哥伦比亚省大学的研究人员联合确定了一项研究计划，以获得有关高温暴露期间涂层性能的基本和基本的可量化科学指标。具体而言，将确定泡沫炭的微观结构评价、其稳定性和隔热行为，以使Quantum未来的产品开发成为可能。 该研究团队已成功开展了NSERC Engage试点项目，开发了一种研究SafeCoat TFI膨胀型涂料性能的新方法。研究人员现在可以使用这些工具来实现新产品开发的重要研发工作，以优化现有的TFI涂层，沿着开发具有先进隔热性能的新型膨胀型涂层。这些研发工作将使昆腾成为北美特种涂料市场提供上级产品的领导者。

Quantum Technical Services Ltd. is one of Canada's leading manufacturers of fire-resistant coatings used in steel-frame buildings. These coatings are used as passive fire-resistance systems, and help in delaying the temperature rise in the steel frame during a building fire. One of the most promising products, SafeCoat TFI, is a thin-film intumescent coating, which swells into an insulating foam char ~2" thick when exposed to fire. This foamed coating becomes highly porous and thermally insulating and immediately protects the steel substrate from the fire. Despite the coating's proven performance in field tests, its behavior as a function of temperature remains unclear. For example, the kinetics of char formation and the chemical and physical properties of the char at different temperatures remain unknown. As a result, researchers from Quantum and the University of British Columbia have jointly identified a research program to obtain essential and fundamental quantifiable scientific metrics regarding the coating's properties during high temperature exposure. Specifically, microstructural evaluation of the foam char, its stability and thermal-insulating behavior will be determined to enable future product development at Quantum. The research team has successfully carried out an NSERC-Engage pilot project, where a novel approach to study the performance of the SafeCoat TFI intumescent coating was developed. The researchers are now in position to use these tools to enable a significant R&D work into new product development, with a view of optimizing existing TFI coating, along with developing novel intumescent coatings with advanced thermal-insulating properties. Such R&D efforts will position Quantum as a leader in North America in offering superior product in the specialty coatings market.