Evaluation of fire performance of organic fire retardant free acrylic based coatings applied on various building materials by cone calorimetric method

Abstract

Fire performance of water-based plaster systems containing acrylic copolymer binder and non-flammable mineral and ceramic fillers intended for decorative coating application was determined by cone calorimetric method. The coatings were applied on common building substrate materials used in construction sector, namely, Medium Density Fibre (MDF) boards, Gypsum Boards (GIB) and Stainless Steel (SS), and the different plaster finishes attempted on these substrates were Tierrafino, Suave and Bone China respectively. Group numbers of the different test samples were also evaluated following the Kokkala method. Based on various measurements, especially heat release, smoke evolution, mass loss data and the Group number estimates, it is evident that these organic fire retardant free coatings can offer good fire safety if applied on appropriate substrates like GIB or SS.