Painting, what is its nature?

Paints are mixtures made up of binders, fillers, pigments, solvents and various additives that give them their characteristics. During renovation or the appearance of a failure, the question often arises as to what type of paint has been used, and what is its composition.

A client contacted us to entrust us with the following mission: determine the type of paint used (intumescent or not) as well as its composition.

An intumescent paint is a paint that has a certain ability to expand when the temperature rises, thus forming an insulating protective layer. Under the effect of a fire, this paint protects and delays the combustion of the support on which it is located.

But how did the lab go about determining the composition and confirming the intumescent nature of the paint?

Painting
Determine whether the proportion by crosslinking in a two-component epoxy adhesive
Thanks to the combination of elemental and structural analyses!
Structural analysis by pyrolysis on a paint flake made it possible to identify epoxy, vinyl polyester, styrene-acrylic urethane matrices. On the other hand, no swelling agent, carbohydrate compound or flame retardant agent was observed.

Elemental analysis, meanwhile, confirmed the epoxy matrix of this paint due to the majority presence of carbon and oxygen. The absence of phosphorus, antimony and boron highlights the absence of phosphoric or boric acid, generally used in intumescent systems.
These analysis results make it possible to conclude on the nature of the paint and in particular on the fact that it was not a priori an intumescent paint.

Our client will therefore be able to renovate the building in order to incorporate an intumescent paint for better protection against potential fires.
Do you want to carry out structural analyzes on your paints, or have doubts about the composition of products used in your buildings? Take a look at the page dedicated to the construction sector, or contact us directly.

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