Employing new fire protection paint system

Swedish industrial paint shop Ahnelövs and Teknos, the supplier and long-term coatings partner, piloted the new, next generation intumescent coating system for fire and corrosion protection. Conducting the first-time sprayings together on-site gives the opportunity to fine-tune the coating process to its optimum right from the start.

Improved corrosion and fire protection for outdoor steel beams

Interested in finding new solutions to further develop the fire protection coating process, Ahnelövs Industrimålning AB chose the new enhanced fire and rust protection system to coat structural steel beams for an industrial facility's outdoor balcony.

The coating system in question was adjusted to match the requirements of corrosivity class C4. For the fire protection, the system was defined according to the standardised definition of estimated occupancy in the event of fire, to match the fire class R30.

The intumescent coating reacts under the influence of heat by swelling to many times of its original thickness and producing a layer of carbonaceous foam that acts as an insulating layer to delay the steel from reaching its critical temperature. In this case, the steel is considered to last minimum 30 minutes before it could reach 650 degrees Celsius at which point the steel structures would have serious loss of hardness and strength.

Common test painting ensures the goals are met right from the start

Whenever working with a new paint, proper testing is a way to ensure that the coating process is tweaked to its optimum right from the start. Test painting enables immediate support and optimisation, as there are countless different variables in coating processes. Coating-specific features such as film thickness, pot-life and drying time have a major effect on the fluency of the process and lead time. Also the spraying-specific factors such as equipment, technique and conditions matter a great deal for the quality of the finished surface.

In this case, the Teknos team of Technical Support Erik Kalmar, Business Development Manager Jan Nordmark, and Product Manager Björn Ödman were participating the spraying event facilitated by Tony Ahnelöv and his team of two experienced painters.

New intumescent benefits the coating in many ways

The usual strong solvent smell is conspicuously missing from the paint shop when spraying the new intumescent HENSOTHERM 920 KS. By being 100% solids, the coating does not evaporate any solvent-smell into the air. Another remarkable benefit is that the new paint makes it possible to shorten the lead time. The coating is quick to harden so it can be given a topcoat the next day, within 24 hours. In addition to the improved lead time, the Managing Director of the paint shop, Tony Ahnelöv, highlights the importance of being able to deliver the steel to the end customer’s construction site in perfect condition. Not needing to do any touch-up painting at the end customer’s site brings great added value and speeds up the construction process as a whole.  

The test painting was also attended by a representative from spraying equipment supplier Graco, whose state-of-the-art equipment makes 2-component coating easier and gives coaters detailed information to ensure mixing accuracy. To make the coating process smoother, a small but important factor in the new HENSOTHERM 920 KS is that due to the 1-hour pot-life, no cleaning is needed before work is fully completed with 2K equipment.