Made-In-Singapore fire-retardant coating
After a talk by renowned physicist Margaret Law on how a structure behaves in a fire and how heat is absorbed by the building, NTU Professor Tan Kang Hai’s interest in fire safety was sparked.
“By studying the effects of fire on structures, I thought I could figure out a way to save people from fires,” says Tan, one of the scientists behind the creation of FiroShield, a new 3-in-1 coating that offers fire and corrosion protection. In addition, its cost is around half of conventional coatings and it takes around half the time to apply.
Together with Assistant Professor Aravind Dasari from NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dr Indraneel S Zope and Mr Ng Yan Hao, from NTU, as well as Mr Ng Kian Wee, Principal Engineer from JTC’s Civil and Structural Department, the team came up with a coating which can be used like paint with colour pigments added.
Assistant Professor Aravind Dasari shared that typical fire coatings form a charred layer under prolonged heat, which can fall off easily and leave the steel exposed to the fire. “What we invented is a coating that forms a compact charred layer that acts as a protective barrier against the heat and which exhibits stronger adhesion to steel, even at higher temperatures,” he explained. FiroShield can therefore slow the spread of fire for two hours, giving time for the building’s occupants to escape.
After two years of intensive research and development, the interdisciplinary team knew that they had found the right formula and aims to make it commercially available by end of 2018.
— Originally published in print on 31 May 2018 © JTC except where noted.
