Jotun Steelmaster
Jotun Steelmaster are a diverse range of Intumescent Coatings products for the protection of steelwork against fire anywhere between 30 minutes and 120 minutes. Steelmaster is typically used in airports, shopping malls, factories, buildings and power plants. It can take just a few minutes for unprotected steelwork in a building to attain temperatures of around 550°C in a fire. At this temperature, steelwork loses its load bearing capacity and the structure is likely to collapse, giving little time for people to evacuate and even less time for the fire service to bring the fire under control.
Building regulations and legislation demand fire protection to upgrade the fire resistance of buildings and the Jotun range of Steelmaster intumescent coatings can certainly stand the heat. Building regulations require that structural steel is protected against fire because the load-bearing strength of steel decreases as its temperature increases. Structural integrity is considered to have been lost when the temperature reaches 550°C.
Intumescent coatings
These products consist of a thin-film coating – generally less than 3 mm but up to 6 mm on hollow sections – that expands (at about 200°C) to approximately 50 times its original film thickness, producing an insulating carbonaceous char that reduces the rate of temperature increase of the steel. In exposed situations, a separate decorative sealer is subsequently applied that also provides moisture and abrasion resistance.
The cost of intumescent coatings has reduced in recent years as a result of improved technology and increased competition. As a result, intumescent coatings have made considerable inroads into the market for fire protection to structural steelwork at the expense of boarded solutions. Intumescent coatings can now provide protection to structural steelwork for up to two hours at competitive cost.
Our team at Patterson Protective Coatings Ltd can offer advice on specifying intumescents, interpreting the different legislation to recommend the most suitable Steelmaster product for your project.
Feel free to contact us for all your intumescent requirements. Your contact at Patterson Protective Coatings will be Darren Cardy who will deal with you project from specification to certification. However, before we can accurately specify a coatings schedule, we need to know the details of the project and the type of fire protection required.
