OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) High Temperature Coating Surpasses Expectations on Navy Tests.

First, a brief note of explanation:

• Yes, this test was performed by the Navy testing groups.
• The left margin numbers show how hot the temperature is in "C" - up to 1200° C.
• The line that is on top shows the temperature inside the furnace when the flame is turned on. As the temperature inside the furnace rises, this temperature line rises to show how hot it is inside the furnace. This heat is what is facing the coating surface.
• The numbers along the bottom of the chart shows the time (seconds) that the furnace is operating. For example: 2000 seconds divided by 60 seconds to a minute = 33 minutes. The Navy only wanted a 30 minute test run for their purposes.
• Figure 31 shows the heat coming through the coating and recording on the back of the aluminum plate that it was coated over. The OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) is 300 mils thick or 7.5mm dry thickness.
• Figure 32 shows the heat coming through the coating and recording on the back of the aluminum plate that it was coated over. The OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) is 250 mils thick or 6.2mm dry thickness.
• Figure 33 shows the heat coming through the coating and recording on the back of the aluminum plate that it was coated over. The OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) is 200 mils thick or 5mm dry thickness. This shows that the thicker the OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) is applied, the better it performs in blocking out the flame and extreme heat.

The main reason that the Navy likes the OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) is because it can protect Aluminum from melting or bending during a fire. The Navy wants to use Aluminum in their construction because it is very much lighter in weight. What the OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) coating can do that all the other coatings cannot do is the following:

• OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) can insulate against extreme heat before flame hits the coating. It is a insulation coating, then when fire hits it, it becomes a fire coating.  Other coatings tested did not insulate until a flame hit the coating.
• After the fire, OMEGA FIRE ® ( SP2001F) had half of its coating left to fight another fire or continue to insulate against extreme heat. All the other coatings, charred (burned) during the fire and had nothing left to fight another fire and could not insulate against extreme heat after the initial fire was put out.
• OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) was quickly and easily cleaned by brushing off the surface and could be quickly recoated to be back in service. The other coatings had to be completely cleaned off and reapplied from new.
• At the end of the test when the plates were laid down to show the surface of the coating, OMEGA FIRE ® ( SP2001F) did not drop any of its char off the surface of the coating during the test which had air movements. The other coatings had dropped all of its char onto the floor and the metal surface that it had been covering was beginning to melt. The Navy was very pointed about the fact that they did not want to see any coating drop its protective char or body during the fire, because of the fact that a fire could reignite or another explosion could happen and the coating needed to be ready to take on additional duty to fight the fire. OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) was the only coating capable of doing this additional duty.
  

The Need for Thermal Protection

Figure 24 shows the steel specimen after this exposure for less than 8 minutes. It is clear that the specimen has undergone severe distortion and has, in turn, undergone permanent deformation via buckling. It should also be noted that although this specimen is full-scale in cross sectional dimensions and in thickness of the steel plate, it stands only 36” high and therefore is not subject to the large self-weight loads and stresses that the actual door is. The existence of the self-weight of the door will lead to even more pronounced distortions. It is worth while, at this point to also recall the analyses, and discussion, associated with Figures 12-17, which showed results of the analyses of a steel door subject to an exposed faceplate temperature of 600 degrees C. There it was shown that at such temperatures the thermal distortion associated with both the temperature differences and the constraint stresses that resulted from the contact with the channels, led to severe stresses, plastic yielding, and buckling type deformation. It is clear from these results, and the analyses presented earlier in section 3, that when subject to the sort of temperature vs. time history as found in the UL 1709 test, an unprotected steel door will fail as shown here. The results shown here, as well as the results of the analyses discussed in Section 3, show clearly that both the steel and aluminum doors require thermal protection. In fact, the results show that the steel door may well require a greater degree of protection than the aluminum door due, in part, to its thinner plate thickness. The results showed that the temperature limit of 200 degrees C is a reasonable criterion to impose form the standpoint of limiting the degradation of material properties and vis-à-vis the structural issues associated with thermal expansion.

Figure 24. An Unprotected Steel Specimen After 8 Minutes of Exposure.

Results Using the Superior Products, Inc. OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) Coating

The Superior Products, Inc. coatings were applied via a toweling process, akin to painting. Figure 29 shows a photograph of such a coating as applied, and before testing. As can be seen, the coatings possess a smooth, and aesthetic texture. These coatings are highly adherent, tough and impact resistant. The chars that form are adherent, dense, and possess a high degree of structural integrity. They were not observed to crack or debond from the specimen. Superior Products Coating OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) was tested. In the case of the OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) Coating, various thicknesses were used, viz. 0.300”, 0.250”, and 0.200”. The temperatures on the backside of the exposed faceplate were found to remain below 200 degrees C for the 30 minute duration of the test.

Figure 29. Superior OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) Coating.

Figure 30 shows an example of the char that formed with the Superior coatings, and as noted above, the chars appear to possess a high degree of integrity. In all cases, again as noted above, the chars are dense to the touch and were never observed to flake off, or peel. On the other hand, we note that removal of the chars using a simple scraping process is readily accomplished – this is also important with respect to a re-application after a fire. Furthermore, no special surface preparation is needed. The preparation used in the studies conducted herein consisted of simple cleaning with acetone following a light sanding using a fine abrasive paper.

Figure 30. Char Formed Using a Superior OMEGA FIRE ® (SP2001F) Coating.




The temperature vs. time histories recorded on the backside of the exposed faceplates for specimens with coatings of thicknesses of 0.300”, 0.250”, and 0.200” are shown in Figures 31 – 33, respectively. As noted above, in this thickness range the peak temperatures after an exposure of 30 minutes were under 200 degrees C. From these results it appears that the minimum thickness required to ensure that the 200 degrees C limit is not exceeded is close to 0.200”. The possibility of further optimization is discussed below.

Coating thicknesses in the range of 0.150” to 0.200” are viable from the standpoints of both weight and long-term durability. Coatings much thicker than this range could suffer from several disadvantages including, inter alia, excess weight, a proneness to cracking or debonding, and from the formation of chars that are too thick and thus lack full structural integrity. If the temperature limit of 200 degrees C were relaxed, and the allowable peak temperature in fact increased to, say 230 degrees C, thicknesses in the range 0.100” to 0.150” would be possible.

Figure 31. Temperature vs. Time for a Superior Products Coating of Thickness 0.300”. Note that the upper curve is, as mentioned above, the plot of furnace temperature vs. time, illustrating the UL 1709 temperature vs. time history.

Figure 32. Temperature vs. time for a Superior Products Coating of Thickness 0.250”. The peak temperature on the backside of the exposed faceplate after a 30 minute (i.e. 1800s) exposure is still below 200 degrees C, and in fact is so up to times of 2000s.

Figure 33. Temperature vs. Time for a Superior Products Coating of Thickness 0.200”. Note that after 1800s (i.e. 30 minutes) the peak temperature has risen just above

Proving RUSTGRIP ® on the flight decks, hulls and equipment both internally and externally is in the process. They have never seen a coating that can provide 6750 psi surface tensile strength which is harder than concrete and some surface metals. It encapsulates corrosion in place and with minimum prep which is a must for the "at sea" repairs and protection.

The EPOXOTHERM ® is being used to stop the condensation on the air ducting throughout the ship.  Because it is wet, we can use the EPOXOTHERM ® and apply while in operation and build the thickness to stop the condensation and prevent future corrosion and slip hazards.

The HOTSURFACECOATING ( HSC ) was used to coat hot pipes to contain the heat instead of using very thick and hard to fit lagging.  This lagging allows sweating which allows corrosion.  In several of the pictures, you can see that I coated the pipes with RUSTGRIP ® direct over the rusted surface.  We removed the lagging and coated direct to rust to encapsulate the corrosion to stop it. Then, came back with HSC to insulate the steam pipes. As long as the surface temperature was less than 325 F, we can use the RUSTGRIP ®.  If over 325 F, we then apply the HSC. At these elevated temperatures, the ceramics will bond down to prevent corrosion.

ADDITIONAL NOTE :
I met with all the building divisions involved in building carriers and other ships in one meeting. In this way, the divisions that had already tested and seen the results were able to relate their findings and approvals to the other divisions much faster and talk among themselves to get the facts before them.

We should see a growing application and approval process throughout the Naval ship building sector.  

A couple of important points in closing that was discussed was the fact that the hulls of the carriers needed to be silenced or deadened. SUPERTHERM ® has the ability to dampen sound on metal by 68%. To coat the hulls then overcoat with their marine paint would do this. Another-- we can coat the internal workings of the engine rooms, boiler systems, any heat generating area and cover it with the HSC or SUPERTHERM ® and hide this heat signature from being detected. What this means is that an enemy missile with heat seeking capability cannot find the heart of the ship to target and hit.

Very important in war.

We also have the DNV maritime approval for RUSTGRIP ®. SUPERTHERM ® and others are coming. DNV is recognized as the world approval organization for any and all maritime coatings. This is required by the Coast Guard and other similar organizations around the world.

I thought you might find this interesting.

J.E.

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