Abstract
Intumescent is defined as the swelling of certain substances to insulate the underlying substrate when they are heated. In this research work the effect of 150 mu m expandable graphite (EG) was studied on char expansion, char morphology and char composition of intumescent coating formulations (ICFs). To study the expansion and thermal properties of the coating, nine different formulations were prepared. The coatings were tested at 500 degrees C for one hour and physically were found very stable and well bound with the steel substrate. The morphology was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The char composition was analysed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. EG above than 10.8wt% expands the char abruptly with uniform network structure and affect the outer surface of the char.