intumescent coatings.

I was watching a program on TV last night, about products in everyday life that are spin offs from NASA.

Thanks Paul!! And all the other aerospace folks out there.

One of these was intumescent coatings. Developed for space capsule heat shield usage-----ablative is the term, IIRC.

Made me wonder if this could be used on our firewalls, and what the pros/cons of such would be??

Three big questions I have are exposure to oil, and long term exposure to the temps under the cowling, and long term adhesion to a thin/flexible sheet of stainless steel.

Internet searching proved to be a big waste of time, so it is time to go to the VAF database.

Any of you with knowledge/experience of these materials, please comment.

Thanks in advance.

intumescent coatings

In my industry (buiding/construction material), intumescent coatings are applied to areas where, in the event of fire...temp starting at (IIRC) 750*F the coating will "bubble and foam" forming air filled "pillows of protection" to protect the substrate. How these coating are effected by oil and oil vapour is something for the techy's.

Lorne, thanks for the reply, hopefully someone out there in VAF land will be able to answer these questions.

Considering the potential disaster that an in flight engine fire poses, this stuff might just be a lifesaver.

My understanding is the paint sold below does exactly that .. essentially puff up and provide an insulation layer. I'm seriously considering it for the forward side of my firewall.
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http://www.aircraftextras.com/Contego.htm

Rupester
Mahomet, IL
RV-9A QB fuse

Thanks

Rupester, thanks for the link.

This sounds exactly like what I had in mind.

More Intumescent Links

This is a 7 month old link, but I think I just saw the same show rebroadcast. Thought the same thing Mike did. Maybe there are more manufacturers now, but I found this interesting data on intumescent paint (swells up to an insulative foam) products:

http://www.fireretardantsinc.com/20_20/intumescent_burn_barrier.html
http://www.fireretardantsinc.com/20_20/images/20-20_Product.pdf
http://www.albi.com/clad800.html

http://www.albi.com/pdfs/800/800_faqs.pdf

See pages 2 and 3, question 2 and 3. I have no idea why.

OK Mike, you used "intumescent" and "ablative" in the same post. NOW I have to go get a dictionary! I've learned a TON on this web site about RVs, but this is one post I have got to watch.

Dave
RV-9a wannabe