Fire protection systems, including passive fire protection, are an essential part of a building’s safety plan, helping to protect the building and its inhabitants during a fire.
The passive fire protection of structural steel can be achieved by painting it with an intumescent coating – a substance that expands when exposed to heat. This prevents the spread of fire and delays possible structural collapse, allowing more time for evacuation.
Protecting lives, assets, and the environment with intumescent coatings
Our intumescent coating solutions provide efficient fire protection for structural steelwork that fulfills the requirements of the necessary fire class, helping to protect lives and assets and prevent environmental damage. We offer competitive film thicknesses for open and closed profiles and a wide range of systems.
Our intumescent coating product, Fontefire ST 60, is CE marked and water-borne, making it a more sustainable choice. It is also compatible with a wide range of primers and topcoats.
How intumescent coatings work
In a fire, the temperature of a steel structure can reach over 500°C in under 15 minutes, so it requires protection to avoid losing strength and collapsing.
An intumescent is a thin-film coating which is inert at low temperatures (less than 200°C) but when it reacts to heat it rapidly transforms through sublimation and expands to many times its original thickness, forming an insulating layer of foam. It’s important the intumescent expands as quickly as possible to be effective.
The resultant foam layer has very good heat-insulation properties, is spongy and porous, and can reach a thickness of up to 50 mm. This reduces how well the heat is conducted from the fire to the steel substrate, increasing the time it takes for structural failure to occur. The foam layer remains in place during any movement of the steel, such as expansion or deflection, providing valuable time for people to evacuate the building.
Tailored coating solutions you can trust
We work with you to understand the full life cycle of your product and identify opportunities to improve efficiency by reducing costs, accelerating project schedules, and carefully managing the supply chain. Our technical services experts are ready to support you with achieving your business goals.
Our technical service experts are helping you for selecting the right systems and providing help with selecting the right film thickness. Try out also our easy-to-use film thickness calculator.
Intumescent calculator for steel
Want to hear more about our solutions? Tikkurila's experts are always here to help you find the right product or solution.
Highlighted products
Tests and standards
- Fire tests (EN 13381-8)
- ETA approval
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