A comparative study on the efficacy of varied surface coatings in fireproofing glass/epoxy composites

This paper investigates the efficacy of varied (non-intumescent and intumescent) polymer-based surface coatings in providing fire protection to glass fibre-reinforced (GFR) epoxy composites exposed to one-sided radiant heating. In addition to an intumescent surface coating, two other non-intumescent surface coatings are considered - one that is active in the condensed phase and promotes surface char formation and another that is active in the gaseous phase and inhibits flaming combustion. The fire resistance of surface-coated GFR epoxy composite laminates is evaluated using the cone calorimeter at incident heat fluxes of 25, 50 and 65 kW/m2. For all tests conditions considered, there is a significant improvement in the fire performance of surface-protected GFR epoxy laminates relative to their unprotected counterparts. The intumescent surface-coated laminate showed the most significant variations in fire reaction properties with changes in irradiance.