Fire Retardant Performance of Some Interior Shipboard Paint Schemes

摘要

The fire retardant performance of alternative paints to the alkyd paint systempresently protecting the interior areas of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships has been evaluated. Topcoats investigated were: (1) a polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) latex paint; (2) an acrylic latex paint; (3) an epoxy polyester paint, and (4) the RAN alkyd paint. The paints were examined in a number of printer/topcoat systems by combustion under limiting oxygen index (LOI), radiant heat exposure, direct flame exposure and reverse panel heating. Some rating variation between procedures was observed although the latex based PVDC topcoat had the highest rating by all test methods. The variability was exemplified by the present RAN fire retardant alkyd paint which successfully passed the reverse panel heating test, had a self-extinguishing LOI of 28.9%, yet had a high flame spread by radiant heating and direct flame exposure. A paint scheme comprising an epoxy polyamide primer and a PVDC topcoat exhibited excellent fire retardant and maintenance properties and should be considered by RAN for a trial to determine in-Service shipboard performance.