SESOC Journal

USING INTUMESCENT COATINGS TO ACHIEVE BUILDING

CODE COMPLIANCE ON STEEL STRUCTURES
Allan Jowsey1 , AkzoNobel2
Reprint of paper presented at Corrosion and Prevention 2015 Conference.

SUMMARY:
Intumescent Coatings are the first and natural choice for structural steel fire protection on commercial projects
in Europe due to them being a cost effective and set & forget solution when the correct system is selected.
Their use in the Australasian region is dramatically increasing as alternative building code compliance, fire
engineering and structural steel solutions are proposed for projects.
However Intumescent coatings are often incorrectly understood and specified, leading to the project not
knowing exactly what is required and less than optimum costing of projects.

Keywords: Steel, Fire, Cellulosic, Intumescent, Specification.

1. INTRODUCTION of raising awareness and providing an increased level of

understanding with Intumescent coating technology.
The ever-increasing use of steel as a construction
material has led to enhanced flexibility in design, as well Understanding Intumescent technology, structural
as significant time savings in the construction industry. response, fire types, fire resistance ratings, anti-corrosion
However, its use in social infrastructure and buildings has performance, specification, and certification is key to
brought an additional challenge - that of fire safety. In the ensuring the correct system is documented and applied.
event of a fire, steel can lose its strength and collapse, The importance of fireproofing materials in the event
resulting in damage to property and in the worst case, of a fire in a building is critical. However, for many
loss of life. designers little thought is generally given to specific
Almost all buildings incorporate some fire safety details relating to fireproofing structural steelwork. This
measures. In the event of a fire, structures are required article provides a high-level overview of approaches
to maintain their stability for a reasonable period of time being adopted in the UK and Europe that combine
to enable occupants to evacuate and to provide safety for structural engineering approaches, testing of fireproofing
fire-fighters. materials and collaborative efforts between designers and
manufacturers to arrive at optimized, efficient, robust and
There are numerous products available to designers to
safe designs. Such approaches take advantage of steel
satisfy the fire resistance requirements of their projects.
design and over the last two decades have played an
Understanding passive fire protection technology and the
important role in making steel the preferred choice for the
impact of legislation is important to ensure compliance
construction industry.
with standards for fire and life safety.
Intumescent coatings provide a cost effective and an 2. OBSERVATIONS
environmental method to protect structural steelwork, Choice of Fire Protection Material
compared to other traditional methods such as
Thin-film intumescent coatings now dominate the UK
vermiculite spray.
structural fireproofing market in new buildings as shown
As with any fire protection product, it is important to in Figure 1. This can be attributed to the commitment
understand its basis to ensure correct specification and on the part of the manufacturers to research and design.
one that is fit for purpose. This paper outlines some of This has been helped and encouraged by the growth
the key issues that architects, engineers, fabricators, of in-shop application and structural fire engineering by
applicators and Approving Authorities should be aware of consulting engineers.
when dealing with intumescent coatings with the intention

PAPER CLASS & TYPE: GENERAL NON-REFEREED

1
PhD MEng CEng MIFireE MSPFE MASCE
2
Felling, UK

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In-shop application is more expensive than most other Twenty years ago, intumescent in the UK had a relative
forms of fire protection in terms of initial cost. However, low usage with an approximate overall 20-25% market
for projects where speed is of the essence, health and share. Today that figure is in excess of 70% and
safety creates difficulties, access is difficult, the weather manufacturers are now starting to look at structural fire
may cause problems, disruption of other trades on site, engineering approaches which assist clients to reduce
etc., this premium can pay big dividends later. It is mainly cost, increase efficiency and promote the use of structural
used where medium to large buildings are constructed steelwork.
quickly. Estimates in the UK suggest that in-shop
application accounts for about 15% market share of all
fireproofing materials, with around 25% of all thin-film
intumescent coating applied this way.

Figure 1: Fireproofing material usage by date in the UK

for new building construction. Courtesy of the British
Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) and Tata
Steel.
Figure 2: Intumescent basecoats usually consist of the
Key Considerations for Specifiers
following:
The specifier should consider the environment in which
• A catalyst, which decomposes to produce a
the intumescent coating system is going to be applied
mineral acid e.g. Ammonium polyphosphates are
and also the environment it must withstand with respect
common catalysts.
to the life of the asset in question. Usually the life of the
• A carbonific, such as pentaerythritol, which
coating system is measured in terms of the years before
combines with the mineral acid to form a
first major maintenance as described in ISO 12944.
carbonaceous char.
A range of intumescent coating technologies are available
• A binder, or resin, simultaneously softens and
to choose from depending on the environment type
helps char adhere to steel.
and the expected design life of the system. Thin film
• A spumific agent that decomposes, to liberate
intumescent coatings such as solvent or water-borne
large volumes of non-flammable gases such as
acrylics are generally suited for interior conditioned
carbon dioxide, ammonia and water vapour. The
spaces where as comparatively thicker epoxy coatings
gases cause the binder to foam and expand to
are more suited for aggressive exposed conditions.
provide an insulating char many times the original
An intumescent coating system has three main coating thickness.
components – a primer, a basecoat (intumescent) and
a sealer coat, which should all be supplied from one A typical specification for intumescent coating system will
manufacturer to avoid any compatibility or performance include: -
issues. In some cases the sealer coat may not be • The steel substrate and its preparation standard e.g.
necessary. Swedish Standard SA 2.5
The primer assists with the adhesion of the basecoat to • The primer, its generic type and DFT (dry film
the steel, while the sealer protects against degradation of thickness)
the basecoat. The basecoat is the key component that • The intumescent coat, its generic type and DFT
reacts to and provides protection from fire. • The sealer coat, where applicable to include colour
and finish

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The fire resistance rating required for the structural steel Structural Fire Engineering
should be arrived after understanding the requirements There are three common methods of structural fire
prescribed in the building codes (Australia AS 1530.4 / AS engineering: -
4100 and New Zealand BS 476) and the recommendation
1. Reducing fire resistance periods
from the approving authority. In some instances structural
robustness in fire may be assessed by a competent Prescriptive codes such as the IBC or NFPA 101 define
structural fire engineer or specialist consultancy that has periods of fire resistance for elements of structure.
in turn justified and advised an alternate fire resistance These are typically periods of up to 180 minutes in 30
rating required for all or part of the building in question. minute intervals. A fire engineer however, can look at
the anticipated fuel within a building, the compartment
In order to establish the correct intumescent basecoat
geometry, the potential ventilation and the use of
thicknesses required to meet the specified fire resistance
suppression systems to arrive at a realistic transient fire
periods, the following information must be made available
and therefore define a performance-based fire resistance
to a fire protection manufacturer:
period. It is not uncommon in the UK for high-rise
• Required Fire Resistance Level (FRL) of the structural buildings to reduce from 120 minutes (the maximum
members fire rating in the UK) to 90 minutes fire resistance. This
• Steelwork drawings to show the elements to be allows for greater choice for fireproofing materials and can
protected reduce cost significantly.
• Steelwork section sizes and BoQ (Bill of quantity) 2. Limiting steel temperature
• Steelwork exposure e.g. 3-sided beam or 4-sided Fire resistance periods should ideally be complemented
column by a limiting steel temperature (the temperature that the
• Environment exposure based on ISO 12944 steel will reach whilst still maintaining enough strength
classifications to carry an amount of load and thus prevent collapse)
• Selection of the preferred application system (onsite or for every single structural member. This should be
offsite) determined by a competent structural engineer and
In many situations, fast construction schedules can can be used by the fireproofing manufacturer to assess
lead to a limited time for applying fire protection. On-site the appropriate thickness of insulation. In the UK and
application is likely to cause disruption due to sequencing Europe, fireproofing materials are tested to a range of
and construction schedules and could have a direct temperatures 662°F to 1382°F (350°C to 750°C). The
implication on cost. limiting steel temperature is a function of the member
Evidence suggests that the most significant cost element capacity and the degree to which it is loaded at the
in steel framed buildings is not the frame itself but the time of a fire. Structural codes such as the Eurocodes
items built around and attached to it. Consequently any provide a methodology to calculate the limiting steel
delays to the frame installation will delay the critical path temperature. This approach frequently results in higher
and affect the project completion schedule. failure temperatures than the defaults assumed by
fireproofing manufacturers in the absence of it being
The application dry film thickness (DFT) and drying
calculated. Therefore, a reduced thickness of material is
properties of intumescent coatings is a function of time
required and often substantial cost savings are achieved.
required for application. The DFT required is a function
At present however, the limiting steel temperature for the
of temperature at which the steel is assumed to lose its
North American market is implicit within the UL 263 fire
ability to maintain its load-bearing capacity (also known
test and is set at 1000°F (538°C) for columns and 1100°F
as limiting or critical core temperature). In many parts of
(593°C) for beams. These temperatures may appear to
the world fire design methodologies allow designers to
be conservative, but there are a number of scenarios in
calculate the limiting temperatures based on structural
which they may not be safe.
calculations under specific loading combinations. This
permits optimised DFTs for a given fire resistance period. 3. Optimization by weight
This also means, in some instances especially at high The greater mass or weight of a steel section, the more
fire ratings, intumescent coatings will become more slowly it will heat in comparison to a lighter steel section.
acceptable to customers as the cost per installed unit Large sections will therefore require a comparatively thin
area is lowered. thickness of fireproofing material to achieve a specific fire
resistance period when compared to smaller sections.
Structural engineers often design for the lightest, most
efficient steel section; however this can result in high

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fireproofing costs. Designers in the UK are

now looking at optimization approaches
which account for the combined cost of
steel, fireproofing material and application
rates. In almost all cases, this approach
demonstrates that the lightest steel design
is not the most economic. This process is
illustrated in Figure 4.
Figure 3 shows the cost breakdown for
elements forming the structural frame
of a typical multi-storey building. It is
shown that the cost of fire protection
to the steelwork can be in the order of
20% of the frame costs. This is not an
insignificant value and as such, designers
are now looking for innovative ways to
Figure 3: Example of relative cost breakdown of components of the
reduce cost on projects. Structural fire structural frame cost for a 14-storey office building in central London
engineering can provide a solution in this (Building Magazine, 2011) showing the proportion of cost associated
respect. with fire protection.

Figure 4: (Left) Illustration of the typical steel and fireproofing costs associated with an increase in the weight of a
steel member, (right), combined cost of steel and fire proofing, showing optimum solution with respect to steel weight.

Building codes countries within South-East Asia are now starting to

Building code effectiveness, their implementation and a adopt US-based design standards for fire safety such
strong regulatory environment are very important while as National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes,
designing and constructing a building. Not all countries the International Building Code (IBC) or derivatives of
in the Asia Pacific region have comprehensive building these. Structural design codes have largely been based
codes, and the ones which do often struggle with on British Standards although a number of countries
compliance and implementation within a weak regulatory are starting to recognise and adopt Eurocodes. With
framework. The recent fire tragedies in Bangladesh, India, respect to structural fire design, the Eurocodes are
and Pakistan have exposed the level of inefficiencies and globally recognised as the most advanced set of
lack of fire safety in public buildings in the region. One of codes and precedents have been set for their use on
the key issues the region faces is the lack of awareness projects considering a performance-based, structural
amongst the general public. In certain instances, the fire engineered solution. Various countries in the region
authorities are not sufficiently trained or equipped to fight including India have held conferences as a part of global
these death traps when they occur. promotion of Eurocodes as they recognise no further
updating of their equivalent British codes will happen.
Historically, many countries in the Asia Pacific region
have developed their national building codes to comply Australia and New Zealand have their own well
with or align closely with British Standards. Several established building codes; testing of products is

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similar across both countries but the actual assessment Methods of assessing the performance of fire protection
methods used in each country are very different which materials have been developed that enable the thickness
usually results in more higher film thicknesses in the of protection for a wide range of situations to be
Australian market due to the regression analysis required predicted, based on a limited number of specimens as
in AS 4100. defined in a fire test. This approach can then be applied
The code or standard used to design the fire protection to the test results, which enables predictions of required
strategy for a building will state that materials used to coating thickness to be made for a range of structural
achieve the required fire resistance must be tested in sections. (www.asfp.org.uk Yellow Book).
accordance with a specific fire test standard. Typically, Leading manufacturers also commit themselves to
this standard defines the definition and classification independent 3rd party verification and assessment of the
of fire-resistant coatings for steel structures including test data via various schemes by reputed organisations to
technical requirements, test methods, assessment criteria give confidence to the customers that the tested material
and specifications relating to packing, marking, labelling, is identical to that supplied for the project.
storage, transportation and the product description. The Influencing the Steel Market
following standards are typically referenced and requested
The feature of the fire protection market which has
for intumescent coatings in the Asia Pacific region:
enabled the UK steel construction industry to solve
• AS 1530.4 / AS 4100 ( Australian Building Code the problem of fire is illustrated in Figure 5 and is often
Compliance) referred to as a virtuous circle. In the UK, the key event
• BS 476 Parts 20-22 (Historically common due to the was the appearance of lightweight fire protection systems
influence of British Standards used in New Zealand) in the 1980s. These reduced prices considerably
• EN 13381-8 (Relatively new and comprehensive which improved the economies of steel construction
standard used across Europe) which in turn increased the amount of steel in use. This
then encouraged more fireproofing companies into the
• ASTM E-119 / UL 263 / NFPA 251 (US-based tests
market which then encouraged research and innovation
referenced to due increased use of US design codes)
(in the form of structural fire engineering and product
• GB 14907 (Chinese fire test standard) development) and decreased prices. Ultimately this
• GOST (Russia and CIS region) approach improved the economics of steel construction
Importance of Testing and Certification and the circle began again.
Intumescent coatings must undergo a wide range Figure 6 shows the change in usage of the main framing
of fitness for purpose testing which includes fire options in multi-storey, non-domestic construction, over
performance to a stipulated fire curve, environment and the last thirty years. It is shown that steel has increased
durability testing, mechanical testing, etc. to assess its market share hugely since the early 1980s. One of the
their performance to a wide range of conditions and key reasons for this is attributed the reduction in cost of
parameters. fire protection for fabricated steelwork.
In the majority of global fire test standards, the size
and construction of a fire test specimen would ideally
represent the element in its intended position in a
building. In such tests, typically a loaded beam is
tested horizontally, with protection applied to three
sides and with the top flange directly in contact with
a floor slab. Columns are tested vertically, with the
protection applied to all sides. This leads to the terms
“3-sided” and “4-sided” exposure when dealing with fire
protection to steelwork. Such fire test standards define
a test programme for unloaded sections to explore the
relationship between fire resistance, coating film thickness
and structural section size. A typical programme may
include 10-40 sections, including
short beams, short columns, and tall columns. To address Figure 5: Virtuous circle showing interaction between
the issue of adhesion to the substrate under deflection fireproofing manufacturers and increased use of structural
steelwork. Courtesy of the British Constructional Steelwork
(stickability), additional loaded member tests are required
Association (BCSA) and Tata Steel.
to complement the unloaded member tests.

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THE WIKIPEDIA HISTORY OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

The history of structural engineering dates back to at least 2700
BC when the step pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser was built by
Imhotep, the first engineer in history known by name. Pyramids
were the most common major structures built by ancient
civilizations because it is a structural form which is inherently
stable and can be almost infinitely scaled (as opposed to most
other structural forms, which cannot be linearly increased in size
in proportion to increased loads).
Another notable engineering feat from antiquity still in use today
is the qanat water management system. Qanat technology
developed in the time of the Medes, the predecessors of the
Persian Empire (modern-day Iran which has the oldest and
longest Qanat - older than 3000 years and longer than 71 km)
Figure 6: Structural material usage for multi-storey buildings that also spread to other cultures having had contact with the
by date in the UK. Courtesy of Construction Markets Annual Persian.
Survey, the British Constructional Steelwork Association Throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural
(BCSA) and Tata Steel. design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as
stone masons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder.
3. SUMMARY No theory of structures existed and understanding of how
structures stood up was extremely limited, and based almost
Fire protection is an important life safety issue and
entirely on empirical evidence of 'what had worked before'.
warrants careful attention to detail at the planning and Knowledge was retained by guilds and seldom supplanted by
design stage of a project. Intumescent coating technology advances. Structures were repetitive, and increases in scale were
has evolved over the last decade to provide more incremental.
efficient, cost effective solutions to customers around the No record exists of the first calculations of the strength of
world compared to other forms of passive fire protection. structural members or the behaviour of structural material, but
However, in certain parts of the Asia Pacific region there the profession of structural engineer only really took shape with
the industrial revolution and the re-invention of concrete. The
are still large knowledge gaps in this area which has
physical sciences underlying structural engineering began to be
a detrimental effect on the industry. This knowledge understood in the Renaissance and have been developing ever
gap needs to be addressed via sustained, effective and since.
enhanced communication amongst key stakeholders. The recorded history of structural engineering starts with the
Ensuring that a specification for passive fire protection ancient Egyptians. In the 27th century BC, Imhotep was the
to structural steel has been written correctly is very first structural engineer known by name and constructed the
first known step pyramid in Egypt. In the 26th century BC, the
important. Specifiers are encouraged to open dialogue Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed in Egypt. It remained the
with intumescent coating manufacturers for advice on largest man-made structure for millennia and was considered an
how best to select the most appropriate solution for their unsurpassed feat in architecture until the 19th century AD.
project. The understanding of the physical laws that underpin structural
There are a number of methods of undertaking structural engineering in the Western world dates back to the 3rd century
BC, when Archimedes published his work On the Equilibrium of
fire engineering, each with the potential to bring
Planes in two volumes, in which he sets out the Law of the Lever,
substantial cost savings to a project. Importantly though, stating:

“equilibrium,
they can be used to quantify structural performance in the
event of a fire rather than assuming performance, implicit Equal weights at equal distances are in
from a fire test alone. and equal weights at unequal
Fireproofing manufacturers in the UK and Europe distances are not in equilibrium but incline
now employ qualified structural and fire engineers towards the weight which is at the greater
and are beginning to align with consulting engineers,
steelwork fabricators and steel construction institutes to
distance.
”
Archimedes used the principles derived to calculate the areas and
demonstrate added value by incorporating fireproofing centers of gravity of various geometric figures including triangles,
characteristics into steelwork designs. This approach paraboloids, and hemispheres. Archimedes's work on this and
is welcomed by the steel industry as it helps to promote his work on calculus and geometry, together with Euclidean
steel as a construction material and ultimately leads to geometry, underpin much of the mathematics and understanding
of structures in modern structural engineering.
robust and safe designs in the event of a fire.
The ancient Romans made great bounds in structural
engineering, pioneering large structures in masonry and concrete,
many of which are still standing today.

84 Journal of the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand Inc