A Review of the Robustness of Epoxy Passive Fire Protection (PFP) in Offshore Environments

Intumescent fire protection  products which swell and char in reaction to the heat of a fire, have been with us for decades. These coatings may be water based, solvent based or epoxy based. 100% solids epoxy intumescent materials were introduced to the Oil & Gas market in 1974. Prior to this date, other latex? based materials had been used in external applications in the Oil & Gas industry with varying levels of success and, in some cases, were found to lose the majority of their fire protection capability due to leaching out of active ingredients in the reaction with weathering.

Essentially, the ingredients which cause fire protection materials to intumesce, and provide thermal protection, are very similar across a broad spectrum of products. It is the medium in which these intumescent ingredients are dispersed which is the key to longevity and durability. A loss of fire protection performance over time can possibly result in the costly need to re-apply, or run the risk of inadequate performance in the unfortunate event of a fire. 

Epoxy media has consistently proven to be superior with over 30 years of real time experience in severe environments around the globe. However, this paper shows that all epoxy intumescents are not the same with regard to corrosion protection and product stability under stress in environments described as C5-M as per ISO 12944.