Experimental and Numerical Study of the Thermal Decomposition of an Epoxy-based Intumescent Coating

• Journal title : Fire Science and Engineering
• Volume 30, Issue 1,  2016, pp.31-36
• Publisher : Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering
• DOI : 10.7731/KIFSE.2016.30.1.031
Title & Authors
Experimental and Numerical Study of the Thermal Decomposition of an Epoxy-based Intumescent Coating
Kim, Yangkyun;

Abstract
This study investigates the characteristics of thermal decomposition of an epoxy-based intumescent paint using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and numerical simulation. A mathematical and numerical model is introduced to describe mass loss profiles of the epoxy-based intumescent coating induced by the thermal decomposition process. The decomposition scheme covers a range of complexity by employing simplified 4-step sequential reactions to describe the simultaneous thermal decomposition processes. The reaction rates are expressed by the Arrhenius law, and reaction parameters are optimized to fit the degradation behavior seen during thermogravimetric (TG) experiments. The experimental results show a major 2-step degradation under nitrogen and a 3-step degradation in an air environment. The experiment also shows that oxygen takes part in the stabilization of the intumescent coating between 200 and $\small{500^{\circ}C}$. The simulation results show that the proposed model effectively predicts the experimental mass loss as a function of time except for temperatures above $\small{800^{\circ}C}$, which were intentionally not included in the model. The maximum error in the simulation was less than 3%.
Keywords
Thermal decomposition;Thermo-gravimetric analysis;Numerical simulation;Fire safety;
Language
Korean
Cited by
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