Development of durable spray-applied fire-resistive Engineered Cementitious Composites (SFR-ECC)

A new spray-applied fire-resistive material (SFRM) that combines the desirable thermal insulation property, sprayability, lightweightness and enhanced mechanical property is developed adopting Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) technology, overcoming the lack of durability issue of conventional brittle SFRM. The newly developed spray-applied fire-resistive ECC (SFR-ECC) exhibits density as low as 550 kg/m3 yet with tensile strength of 0.87 MPa and tensile strain capacity of 1% when spray-applied, significantly higher than those of conventional SFRM with tensile strength of less than 0.1 MPa and no inelastic tensile strain. The newly developed material also exhibit significantly higher adhesion to steel than conventional SFRM. The thermal conductivity and sprayability of SFR-ECC are measured to be comparable to conventional SFRM, which ensures the proper functioning of SFR-ECC. SFR-ECC with enhanced mechanical performance is expected to improve the overall fire safety of steel structure under both service and extreme loads.